Marcus: Broken Android
by AllAmericanSlurp
Summary: This is the untold story of what made Marcus so indifferent and unfeeling. This is the untold story of what really happened to him. This is the story of his painful past. This is the story of what he must do in the remaining three months of his life. Rated T just to be safe.
1. Renewal

**Hello, AllAmericanSlurp here. Since I've already written two stories, I decided to take a stab at a third. Please don't flame, but constructive criticism is more than welcome! Here you go!**

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Disclaimer: I do not own Lab Rats.

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Marcus was nothing but an android—a specially designed robot built to resemble a human. He couldn't think for himself. His father Douglas had carefully crafted him to obey orders, no matter what. He had grown up thinking of the other side of the Davenports as evil, and his side of the Davenports good. He had grown up with what he thought was a completely normal childhood that involved living in a basement and occasionally going on outings. He had grown up as an android built to resemble a human.

But what had made Marcus the way he really was? If he hadn't had such a painful past, well, would he have grown to become real, true friends with the lab rats?

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_One-year-old Marcus._

Douglas wrapped his hands around Marcus' midsection and whispered to himself, "My boy, aren't you a beaut. Yes, you will help me get back what was mine! It was all mine! And Donny stole it from me."

Marcus opened his eyes, and saw a face. It wasn't a friendly face—right away, the little android knew it was the face that plastered on a friendly layer when it wanted to, and took it off when it had to. He knew that, if he wanted to survive as long as he possibly could, he had to be with the friendly face, not the real face.

Douglas neglected the young android—Marcus didn't need food, and he didn't do his "business," but, well, even robots need attention—especially if they're designed to act human.

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_Five-year-old Marcus._

Douglas screamed in a rage, "You can't do anything right! You can't do anything _at all_! One SIMPLE task—I ask you to do ONE THING!"

Marcus cowered from his creator. He was only five. He couldn't have known better. But did Douglas care? No. No, he didn't. Unknown to Marcus, he had created Marcus for his own personal reasons and vendetta.

"Daddy, I tried! I really did! They're too strong!" If he had been human, tears would've been streaming down his cheeks. But even so, he couldn't cry. Crying was for babies and flimsy, weak people. He couldn't cry. He was Marcus, a powerful (once older) machine. What kind of powerful being cried? At least, that was his creator's/father's motto. Marcus never saw Douglas cry. And since Douglas was the only main influence in the little android's life, he tried to use Douglas as his role model, albeit an unsatisfactory role model.

He'd been in the simulator, fighting rebels. His chip had many abilities, yes. But, well, a five-year-old is a five-year-old. No five year old, human or not, could possibly take out twenty rebels trained in martial arts. Any regular father would have known that. But Douglas, well, he wasn't a father, was he? He was a creator. And creators always had to be one step ahead of their creations. (A/N **That last sentence was based on a phrase from ****Traitor****, by 88Keys. I absolutely love that sentence! Check out 88Keys' story if you haven't already!**)

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_Nine-year-old Marcus._

Marcus grunted as he was practicing with his super-speed. He could now speed up to three hundred fifty miles per hour, but did Douglas care? No, of course not. Douglas was only satisfied when Marcus was pushed to his limits, were, since he was an android, relatively limitless.

Douglas yelled below him, as Marcus was standing on the balcony in their lab, "Okay, that was two seconds! Come on, Marcus! I think that you can get to where _I'm_ standing," he motioned the area surrounding him, "to where _you_ are now in _less_ than two seconds, don't you?"

Marcus sighed inwardly. No, he didn't think so, but he had to impress his fatherly figure, or else Douglas had threatened to turn him out on the streets. "Yes, Dad."

Douglas smiled, and it was not a good smile. "Fine. Show me." Marcus sped back down the metal stairway and up to Douglas, in which he created a breeze that ruffled Douglas' hair.

Douglas grumbled and launched into a rant loudly, "Not the hair, Marcus! Not the hair! How many times have I told you to _never_ mess up my hair! The best multimillionaires have good hair! Plus, I just visited the hairdresser! NOT THE HAIR!"

Marcus dreamed that night. No, it wasn't a dream—it was a nightmare—the worst of nightmares, the deadliest of nightmares, the most fatal nightmare of deadliest nightmares.

"_What have I told you about revealing the fact that you're an androi—bionic? You're never supposed to let _anyone_ find out!"_

_Marcus whimpered. "I'm sorry, Dad! Please forgive me! I never meant to make that mistake, really, I didn't! Don't throw me out on the streets! I need you, Dad!"_

_Douglas laughed cruelly. "Oh, I won't throw you out on the streets, boy."_

_Marcus, relieved, said, "Oh, Dad, I knew you wouldn't! Please forgive me! It was all a terrible mistake and a bad misunderstanding! I'll always be your son, right?"_

_Douglas continued, harshly. "No, Marcus, you're not going to be thrown out on the streets. You're just a miserable failure—a failure, I tell you! Adam, Bree, and Chase wouldn't make the same mistakes as _you_! No, I'm giving you to the government—you're useless enough as you already are! I can see you won't become the ultimate androi—bionic that I thought you were."_

_Marcus cowered, and then a thought struck him. Who were Adam, Bree, and Chase? Were they other bionics that Douglas had? But the thought was quickly extinguished. He was going to be handed over to the government!_

"No…" Marcus whispered while recharging. "No… don't! Dad! Come back!" Chest heaving, he woke up, drenched in robotic sweat. (A/N **Well, I had to give **_**some**_** sensory detail, didn't I? It's based on the line from Perry 2.0—Chase: "She's a robot! **_**How**_** does she sweat?**)

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_Thirteen-year-old Marcus._

Marcus flexed his hand. The tendons below seemed to move, almost as if he were human, even if he didn't know he was an android.

He stared for a long time at his palms. He'd heard once on television that you could tell a lot about a person by their palms. Could you really?

Well, his palms were eerily smooth. They were always cold, like metal. His fingernails never grew, his hands were never dry or cracked, and they never seemed to cut. Ever.

_Was he—? No. _He couldn't be. Dad had always told him that he was simply a bionic human being! And Dad was the only person he trusted in this world.

Marcus spent the next hour just looking at himself. He _had_ to be human; look at him! He looked, well, like any other person—hair, eyes, nose, torso.

But he couldn't stop thinking about his palms. Whenever he saw Dad's palms, they had creases in them—a curved seven-shaped crease and a curved one-shaped crease. Why didn't _he_ have creases? Why were his palms so unnaturally smooth?

But if he was one of those androids, Dad would have told him the truth, wouldn't he have? Androids only lived to sixteen; he knew that. But if Dad was lying, well… he only had three more years.

Three.

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_Fifteen-year-old Marcus; the night before the Bionic Showdown._

Marcus watched Adam, Bree, Chase, Leo, and Donald Davenport laughing about something. They were normal to him. They had a good time with each other. He would have given anything to have grown up with a father like that. He would have given anything to have a loving family. He would have given anything to be one of them.

Or would he? Did he like his life? He didn't know. What did being happy mean? Did he ever really have any happy moments in his life? He couldn't remember.

But this Marcus, this soft Marcus that wished for a warm home and a loving family—he didn't exist. Not when Douglas was around; not when his cousins taunted him indirectly when embracing each other for just a simply group hug.

Maybe if Douglas hadn't told him that Adam, Bree, and Chase were the antagonists—they might have even become friends. Real friends…

Marcus was very powerful, but his soul was indifferent, cold. And coldness wasn't born.

_Coldness was made._

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**So, how did you like it? I always wondered what Marcus really wished for, if Douglas hadn't raised him the way he did, pitting Marcus and the Rats against each other. Don't forget to R&amp;R, and check out my other stories, Thoughts of the Truth and Bionic Ice Skating! **

**Should I continue? When I began the rough outline it was just meant to be a one-shot... I enjoyed writing this from Marcus' point of view, but I'm still not exactly satisfied with the ending—if you faithful reviewers want me to have Marcus alive after the rocks crush him (yes, an old story idea, and there are many stories out there like that, but I'd love to write about that even so). So tell me what you'd like me to do by reviewing! **

**(I apologize for any spelling/grammatical errors.)**


	2. Exposure

**Okay, so I discovered since this story is getting pushed further and further down the storyline in the Lab Rats archive. That means less people are likely to see it, therefore I did not get the reviews I hoped I would. However, since you guys really did want me to continue, I give you this chapter.**

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Disclaimer: I do not own Lab Rats.

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Dust, rocks, soil, grit, spiders, and other creepy crawlies swarmed and invaded Douglas' former lab. The cage-like capsule was destroyed and cyber-desk was demolished. Walls had caved in from the shock-wave blast and plaster had crumbled to the ground, joining the dust and other particles.

But there was one more thing down there, barely moving.

_Barely._

Marcus groaned, his strength almost sapped by the shock-wave blast, but as he wasn't human and could stand tougher situations, he was still strong enough to push away the rocks and crawl out to the surface, much like the spiders surrounding him, buried in the rubble.

He blinked his eyes. His hair was a total mess, ruffled and dusty with alabaster. What had happened? As an instinct, he looked at his palms.

They were still smooth. Somehow, even though is gray clothes were smothered in dust and grit; his hands were white and unblemished; creepily immaculate.

_Now_ he knew for sure, though, when he looked at his arm, his left harm, that Dad had lied to him for fifteen years.

The lower part of his arm, between his elbow and middle-finger-tip, was all wiring and metal, sparking and zapping away.

He stared at it, hypnotized by it. For a fleeting moment, he thought about how fun it'd be to try and scare pedestrians with it.

But then what? It would give him shallow joy, but was it worth it in the long run? What if he was turned into the government? He'd be dismantled, reassembled, and eventually burned out.

He looked at his metallic arm once again; almost not believing it was his. He flexed it like he done two years ago when he was thirteen. When he moved his shoulder socket, the arm moved. When he stopped, it went still.

That arm was his, _all his._

He cradled it, thinking that it was all he had left. And it was—he'd seen Dad exiting, abandoning him.

But he'd been raised to do his "mission" no matter what—and his cousins were escaping. He could have turned the tables either way at that point—he could have joined his father or he could have stopped the lab rats.

Neither had happened.

And his arm was all he had to show for it.

Well, other than the black, pale, lifeless eyes, shaggy hair, and dusty ragged clothing, of course.

But mostly the arm. _That metallic arm._

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He knew he had to go somewhere. Eventually the authorities would discover the seemingly innocent blue-siding house, and then where would he be?

Destroyed, that's for sure.

He left the house after grabbing some rubber gloves, elbow length, putting them, and not looking back. Briefly, he considered turning toward his cousins, but only briefly.

After all the pain he'd inflicted on them, wounding Adam, taunting Bree, almost _killing_ Chase, well, of course they wouldn't take him in warmly, would they?

Would they?

No. He had to go somewhere where he would be safe.

Safe, but alone.

_All alone._

These were his thoughts when he walked down to the drugstore, where, since he couldn't shower for fear of sparking even more than he already was, he would buy at least deodorant and other such necessities.

Wearily, he stepped inside the store. A bell tinkled, too cheerfully, in his opinion. Why did everyone seem to be so happy when he couldn't?

Well, easy! They weren't androids with a sparking arm that would die/burn out in three months.

Marcus laughed bitterly in his mind, and stepped up to the counter and laid down the items he'd selected while deep in thought. The cashier rang them all up and then said, "Hon, what have you got under those gloves?"

Marcus could handle anything—rebels in Syria, tsunamis, his three bionic cousins. But he wasn't prepared for this question. He froze. How'd she know? Damn that sparking noise! Was it really that loud?

The cashier looked concerned. "Hon, what have you got under those gloves?" She repeated.

Marcus ignored her; he thought that would be the right, best, and safest option. "Bye," he said, rather quickly, and tried to walk away.

Big mistake.

The cashier, whom he considered too nosy for his own good, grabbed the glove.

And she revealed his arm.

_The wrong one._

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**Ha-ha! I'm so evil. I love going from the tortured reviewer to the torturing author! Just ask MoonlitShadowsoftheHumanSoul! If I can get ten reviews in one week, I will update. But **_**only**_** if I get ten reviews. So please R&amp;R! And don't forget to check out my other stories, Bionic Ice Skating and Thoughts of the Truth. And please tell other people about this story! :-)  
**

**(I apologize for any spelling/grammatical errors.)**


	3. Quick Thinking

**He, y'all! Thanks to a guest, I received the required number, 10 reviews, on Chapter 3. So I'm disappointed in you all! If you don't review right away, it gets pushed farther and farther down the archive and then no one really reads it unless they've typed it in the search box because they're re-reading it on purpose. Following me? Anyway, thanks to everyone who has reviewed, followed and added it to their favorites list! Here's Chapter 3. **

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Disclaimer: I do not own Lab Rats.

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_The cashier looked concerned. "Hon, what've you got under those gloves?" She repeated._

_Marcus ignored her; he thought that'd be the right, best, and safest option. "Bye," he said, rather quickly, and tried to walk away. _

_Big mistake._

_The cashier, whom he considered too nosy for his own good, grabbed the glove._

_And she revealed his arm._

_The wrong one._

Marcus was horrified. He had gone through so much trouble to keep it concealed, to keep it hidden away from this light, cheerful world, and this cashier had ruined it all.

The cashier was dumbstruck, her cherry-red lips open and a sprig of curly brown hair dangling in front of her face. She kept on trying to move her mouth, but she couldn't say anything.

_She looks like a ridiculous, too-much-makeup-kind-of-female goldfish. A nosy goldfish with brown hair,_ Marcus thought, grinning almost imperceptibly.

But the thought quickly vanished, and he remembered the predicament he was in. What was he going to say? What should he do? He thought grimly, _If worst comes to worst, I'll just have to dispose of her._

Something sparked, for once not his metallic structure, deep inside of him. He was feeling something he hadn't ever experienced before—a pang of… was it r_egret? _He had tried to kill his cousins/step-cousins and here he was feeling guilty just even _thinking_ about "disposing" of this cashier?

He wondered if his saws still worked. He would give her a quick and painful death as quickly and as painlessly as he possibly could with saws that cut into a person like knife into butter.

As all these thoughts were running a triathlon in his head, the cashier finally said something, eerily calmly. "Hon, why have you got a robotic arm?"

Marcus stared at her. He felt his eyes getting warmer and warmer. No! No! Not now, of all times! He couldn't let his eyes fire off uncontrollable lasers. He tried to calm himself down. The cashier hadn't made any terrible assumptions, so he would have to play it _very, very_ safe.

Slowly, his neon-green eyes returned to their normal brown.

Gradually, his metallic artificial heart built into his chest to make him seem realistic stopped pumping so hard and relaxed.

Marcus thought fast, as he still had his super smarts, and stammered, "Uh… it's a prosthetic…"*

The cashier replied, "Then you shouldn't be sparking like that! Honestly, the quality of robotic arms that a doctor prescribes these days. Atrocious!"

Marcus breathed out a sigh of relief. He would simply walk out the door and the cashier would hopefully leave him alone.

Turning around, he heard the bell jingle as he exited. He could almost smile. He had done it! He had exposed his secret and gotten away with it!

But then something happened, something else that he would curse for the rest of his three months that were left in his short lifespan.

That something happened, then.

Something big.

Something bad.

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**Ha-ha! I'm so evil. I love cliffhangers! If I get 24 reviews (my favorite number) I will update and tell you what that "big bad thing that happened" is in the next, hopefully much longer and much more exciting, chapter, okay? And please, if you can just type I LOVE IT or I LIKE IT or just a simple UPDATE, that will fuel me to put up Chapter 4!  
**

**Footnote: The idea of the prosthetic limb comes from BTRlover1122, whom I would like to give a shout-out to for that excellent idea. I had already planned out what Marcus was going to do (I'm not telling you directly, but see if you can find out by re-reading his mental thoughts before he says it was a prosthetic limb) but her idea was much, much better! So thanks to her and check out all of her great stories!**

**(I apologize for any spelling or grammatical errors.)**


	4. Painful Encounter

**Hey y'all! (That's probably my catchphrase from now on.) I am here with a new chapter of Marcus' Childhood because I reached my goal! Thanks to everybody who has reviewed, followed, and added this to their favorites and subscribed. I would like to give out special shout-outs for the following:**

**MoonlitShadowsoftheHumanSoul for being such a faithful reviewer (Go check out all 36 of her stories)  
BTRlover1122 for being supportive (She's got some awesome stories at the moment)  
daphrose for being encouraging (Her stories are so good you've probably read all of them by now)  
EmotionalDreamer101 for sticking with the story the entire time  
And, SamiBrit14 for being the 1st reviewer ;-)**

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Disclaimer: I do not own Lab Rats.

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_But then something happened, something else that he would curse for the rest of his three months that were left in his short lifespan._

_That something happened, then._

_Something big._

_Something bad._

Marcus had bumped into somebody while deep in thought, and that somebody was now lying on the hard pavement, legs sprawled out and arms askew. Ugh! The last thing Marcus wanted to do was draw attention to himself. He bent over the person. "Are you all right?" he asked, softly.

Suddenly, the person's head turned, and when the hair was pushed out of the way, Marcus couldn't believe the face he saw. It took his breath away, and for a moment, he rubbed his eyes with his eerily smooth palms and wondered if he was hallucinating from the close encounter with that nosy cashier.

_Chase Davenport, the boy he'd tried to kill._

Marcus backed away slowly, but Chase groaned, and, as he was bionic, recovered from the fall rather quickly. He picked himself up and brushed off, looking around, wondering who knocked into him.

His head craned around, and then, he saw Marcus standing only a few foot off, not having backed off of the scene fast enough.

Marcus' eyes widened, and he knew he was in deep trouble. He started to back away once more, trying to blend in with the shadows. But it was just simply too late. Chase had an angry look on his face, and was marching towards him at an impossible speed almost to match Bree's.

He stuck his face into Marcus' and said, "What are you doing here? I thought you were dead. I guess falling rocks weren't enough to kill you!" He sounded angry, and Marcus knew very well why.

Marcus tried to avoid eye contact with the genius. "Well, I'm not dead."

Chase sneered. "I can see that," he said coldly. "Why are you even here? You _do_ know you won't survive much longer, right?"

Marcus felt a twinge of guilt when he saw how much damage he had done to Chase. He deserved all of these harsh words. It was not the words themselves that stung; it was how they were said.

Marcus abruptly started walking away, saying, "I have to go."

Chase wouldn't let Marcus go, apparently, without a fight. "Go where? You creator is out there somewhere; he abandoned you, for heaven's sakes!"

Marcus stared at him for a long time, sending a mixed message of emotions with his deep, soulless eyes.

Chase stopped. "You weren't thinking _we_ would take you in, were you? Because we never would. Not after what you did to us."

Marcus sounded desperate, almost pleading. "Look, I'm sorry for what I did. I know I backed the wrong person and you have to forgive me! I know what I did was wrong. I know it all."

He sounded so ashamed that Chase, for just a split second, almost believed him. But nonetheless, he was Chase, a fighter and determined for… well, what?

"You aren't sorry. You never will be. You're just an android; you don't have feelings."

Marcus stumbled back like the words had been thrown at him like a knife. _You're just an android; you don't have feelings._ It replayed itself, over and over, in his head.

But Chase wasn't done yet. "If Adam were here, you know what he would do? Nothing. He'd rip your head off and throw it to the dogs. If Bree were here, she whip you around and mash you all up until you resemble mashed potatoes."

Marcus looked away. The pain was too great. He knew, in his grief, that he had done everything wrong. He had done it because Douglas was the only person he could ever rely on, and now what? His closest ally had abandoned him for personal vendetta. It hurt, it really hurt.

Chase was looking at him now. "What's wrong, Marcus? Speechless?"

Marcus said quietly, "Just go away. I've had enough today."

Chase followed him, taunting, "Who's so big and strong and powerful now?"

Marcus kept on walking faster. It _was_ a good thing that Bree wasn't here, or else she'd keep up with him to the point where he'd get creeped out.

But Chase kept up with him, annoying gnat that he was. "Maybe you should stand in the corner and think about what you've done, for, oh, MAYBE THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!"

Marcus yelled, all of the bottle emotions spewing out, "I get it, Chase, okay? I know that I hurt you and your family and I almost killed Leo twice! I know it all! And I'm SORRY for that, I really am! But you don't believe me, and I guess you never will! And I probably deserve all of those taunts for what I did but you don't have to make it worse! I'm wallowing in self-pity and sadness because of a wasted childhood and now you're just magnifying the bad parts of my stupid, sixteen-year lifespan!"

Chase stopped and stared, surprised.

Marcus walked away again, the anger and fight escaping from him, but found that he was stopping. He tried to keep on walking, but he couldn't. Something was wrong. Why wasn't he walking?

He dug his heels into the pavement, but some invisible force kept on dragging him backwards, until he was staring up at Chase's face. "You didn't really think I was going to let you go, did you?"

Oh, right. Marcus cursed internally—he'd forgotten that Chase was bionic. He breathed deeply, knowing that, although he had more abilities, his system was stressed out and wouldn't be working to the best of its ability. He doubted he still had strength or speed. Did he still have his other abilities? He wasn't sure. What he did know, though, was that he was _not_ in a good position. _At all._

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**Mm… should I leave you at a cliffhanger? Nah, let's teleport somewhere else since I'm the author and this is my story.**

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_Marcus was in a soft, warm place, and he was staring up at the clouds, soft, cottony clouds. They embraced his cold, smooth skin, and whispered things to him that enticed him to join them, with sugary-sweet voices that could melt the coldest heart._

_He reached out to them, but every time he thought he held them in his grasp, they slipped out of his fingers, saying something Marcus couldn't quite make out. What were they saying?_

"_If only… if only… if only…"_

_Marcus strained his super-hearing ears to hear their fading voices._

"_If only you had… if only you had…"_

_Just a little more—_

"_If only you had helped the right side, you could be here, safe and secure. All day, all night. But you didn't… you didn't… you didn't…" The sweet voices faded away, and then, the clouds began growing, larger and larger, getting darker and darker in color, until they resembled smoke. Marcus realized these were symbolic clouds; his soul, his conscience._

_The newly formed cumulonimbus clouds began raining, and thundering in raspy, great tones, "And this is the life I condemn you to for your actions. This is where you shall remain for the rest of your three months; this is where you shall stay as your punishment; this is where there will be consequences…"_

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**So! There you go. I eked it out in less than half an hour; pardon the inconsistencies in... well, anything! I would like 30 reviews for Chapter 5, which _will_ have bionic ability fights or whatever you call 'em. So, review, review, review! Don't forget to check out the said authors' stories! Also, check out my other LR stories, Too Much, Thoughts of the Truth, and Bionic Ice Skating!  
**

**(I apologize for any spelling/grammatical errors.)**


	5. Taunts

**Hey, y'all! I'm back again with Chapter 5, which I hope you will enjoy. There are some minor uses of bionics; I'm not very good at describing fight scenes. Enjoy! Oh, and one more shout-out to XxXIamaroleplayingfangirlXxX for being such a nice reviewer :-) **

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Disclaimer: I do not own Lab Rats.

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"_And this is the life I condemn you to for your actions. This is where you shall remain for the rest of your three months; this is where you shall stay as your punishment; this is where there will be consequences…"_

With a start, Marcus snapped back to reality. At first, his mind was blissfully blank, but then, he remembered everything that had happened; it all came rushing back. The rocks crumbling, Chase shouting, "Marcus, look out!" He remembered the cashier and his "prosthetic" arm, running into the last person he'd ever want to see on Earth. The words, those harsh words.

Chase was looking down at him, and thinking, "What have you got in mind, now? Were you planning to find your _creator_ and crawl after him like a lost puppy and then try to infiltrate our household again and kill us in the dead of the night?"

Marcus squeezed his dark eyes shut. "I would never do that, Chase."

Chase scowled. "Why should I believe you after you lied right to my face? To _our_ faces? Leo was right all along, and we never believed him. So give me just _one good reason_ as to why I should believe you at all now!"

Marcus looked at his hands. It was something he seemed to be doing a lot by now. He guessed that he did it because, well… why _did_ he do it? It almost seemed as if he did it subconsciously…

But that wasn't what was supposed to be on his mind now. He needed to find shelter to keep safe and warm for the remaining three months and also to escape the angry bionic genius standing over him. Was he really more powerful than him? He _had_ been, but now… he was broken. A broken "toy," a broken machine, a broken shell of an android boy.

So instead, he asked a question that would buy him some time.

"Where are your siblings? Davenport?"

This caught Chase off guard, but not for long. He folded his arms. "Why do you care?"

Marcus probed for an answer. Chase really was smart. "Why do you think?"

Chase snapped, "I think I know why you care. You're stalling. Why are you stalling? Did you really think that it would work? I'm the smartest _human_ on earth. I can see through any lie. _And I mean ANY lie._" He said the last sentence in a menacing whisper, which made Marcus shiver inwardly, not that he'd ever admit it. And the part where he emphasized "human" shriveled up Marcus' "soul" to the point where Marcus would have liked to die, in shame and embarrassment.

Marcus glanced at Chase, and then looked away at the ground. He finally said quietly, "I'll go. I see I'm only aggravating you." He began to walk away.

Chase grabbed Marcus molecular-kinetically* and pulled him back by his elbow and said, "What will happen if I let you go? I can't think to let that happen."

Marcus screamed inside his head. What was wrong with Chase? Couldn't he see that he was simply a broken android with no family, no heart, and no friends? He wasn't going to wreck a city in the mental and physical state he was in now. "Does it look like I'm going to do damage to anything?" He glared at Chase, feeling like he could set Chase on fire. Which, in fact, he could, but since he was sparking so badly, it would most likely malfunction.

Chase molecular-kinetically gripped Marcus even harder; he felt like his elbow was choking. "You know, with you, I can never tell," he answered coldly. "And in the last moments of your pitiful little life you can reflect on all you've done and see that you deserve all I'm going to serve you." With that, he released Marcus, and, since the telekinetic grip was all that was holding Marcus up, he fell. Hard.

He saw spots in his vision as his head clanged to the ground; however, he didn't feel any pain. Just mental pain. Pain that he could never repent for his wrongful actions.

Chase began shoving Marcus with his molecular kinesis farther and farther back until he backed up against a brick wall. Marcus began to feel afraid. There was no one around to see him die. At least he would die, _hopefully,_ quick and painfully. But knowing Chase, anyone who hurt his family deserved to die slowly, very painfully, writhing in the most excruciating form of agony.

Chase taunted Marcus, "It seemed two months ago you would have easily killed me. What's wrong, _Marcus?_ Afraid of a pitiful little fifteen-year-old?"

Marcus glared at Chase, but he didn't make any move to kill him on the spot.

Chase continued, "I bet you're thinking about a slow and painful death, aren't you?" He held his hands out and two metal stop signs flew into them.

_He must have the magnetism app, _Marcus thought. He may have been broken, but he wasn't dumb. He knew the difference between the magnetism app and molecular kinesis.

"A slow and painful death, is that what you wish for? Not going to happen, not now, not ever." Chase raised the stop signs over his head and brought them crashing down on Marcus. Marcus felt his wires zap and his right arm spark so badly a stray wire struck him in his hollow, lifeless eyes. It didn't hurt, no, but it was a rude awakening to Marcus. Was he just going to let Chase beat the life out of him while he sat moaning and groaning accepting his fate? He could choose his fate any way he wanted, and he knew that dying at the hands of his hated cousins was an sad, dishonorable way to die, in his point of view.

Chase was forming a plasma ball and was ready to hurl it when that something inside of Marcus snapped. His eyes briefly turned green before the deadly lasers fired their way towards Chase and pushed him backwards several yards. But, as he was bionic, he recovered quickly and stood up, facing Marcus, his arms in a fighting stance, knees bent, shoulders locked.

"Is that the best you've got, android?" He circled Marcus and Marcus felt the same way he had back at the underground lab during the bionic showdown—a mouse being watched by a hawk. He wouldn't have ever told anyone, but he had felt scared when they'd surrounded him.

And in a way, he knew that it was the wrong thing to do. And in a way, he had exacted his revenge on Douglas.

When the remote had fallen from the balcony/bridge, when the brothers had stared at that, frozen in time, he had seen it. He had stared at it, and he could have sped over and grabbed it that very second and handed it to Douglas, rendering Donald powerless. He could have ended it all, right there and then, leaving him and Douglas successful, but…

He hadn't.

He didn't.

And for a very good reason.

And that, maybe, was his dying thought. He had done something, no matter how insignificant the Davenport-Dooleys may deem it. He had done something to avenge his conscience.

But it wasn't. It wasn't his last thought.

Just as Chase was ready to kill him with a plasma ball, glowing and flickering and much more dangerous than a simple force field, he heard a voice. A clear, distinct voice that relieved Marcus of all his pain. That voice would save him from his death. It was the voice that would stop Chase from killing him, penniless.

"Stop, Chase!" The voice yelled, making Chase stop for a split second and wince.

Marcus looked up at the sound of that welcome voice, and saw feet. His sore eyes followed it up, and up, until he saw his savior. And then he smiled.

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**Cliffhanger time! Ooh, it feels so good to write those. Can you guys guess who the "savior" is? Type your guess in the review box!  
**

**I promise I will update IF, and only IF, I get 40 reviews. 5 reviews, people, it's not that hard! And if you exceed expectations, well... I'll let the review requirement on my other story Thoughts of the Truth slide for the epilogue and sequel! So review, review, review!**

**Footnote #1: One of my friends on this site told me that telekinesis and molecular kinesis were slightly different, so instead of telekinetically I put molecular-kinetically. I know it sounds awkward, but I'd like to be exact.**

**(I apologize for any grammatical/spelling errors.)**


	6. Away

**Hey, y'all! Because I had typed Chapter 6 ahead of time, and we reached the amount of reviews (and more!) that I required, I give you Chapter 6 twenty-four hours later! Woo-hoo! This chapter has got minor fight scenes, so I hope that you enjoy! Shout-out to Vampire girl(a guest), who touched my heart with saying, "Without your stories my story life is incomplete." Isn't that nice? Also shout-outs to amichele and BTRlover1122 for being very complimentary reviewers! Enjoy!  
**

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Disclaimer: I do not own Lab Rats.

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_Just as Chase was ready to kill him with a plasma ball, glowing and flickering and much more dangerous than a simple force field, he heard a voice. A clear, distinct voice that relieved Marcus of all his pain. That voice would save him from his death. It was the voice that would stop Chase from killing him, penniless. _

"_Stop, Chase!" The voice yelled, making Chase stop for a split second and wince._

_Marcus looked up at the sound of that welcome voice, and saw feet. His sore eyes followed it up, and up, until he saw his savior. And then he smiled._

Standing over him was his creator/fatherly figure, whom he thought didn't care about him. _He might still not. He may just want to scare Chase off so he can yell at me for letting them go. That must be it. He's never cared about me before._ _And he never, ever, will._

Chase pivoted around, and his hazel eyes narrowed when he saw Douglas. "What do you want, Douglas?" He resumed his fighting stance.

Douglas raised his hands in surrender to show he had no weapons. _He's afraid of Chase,_ Marcus thought. _He knows very well that Chase could kill him at the slightest movement of his hands._

_His hands,_ he continued thinking. _He's got human hands. I don't._

Argh! He was thinking about his palms again. Why did he do that? He still didn't know.

_Why wasn't he afraid of me? I could have killed him just by looking at him. I was more powerful than all three of my cousins. He could have been dead by my third birthday._

_But he could have killed _me._ He had complete control of me. If he wanted, he could have shut me down while I was recharging. He could have twisted me into any shape he wanted, and I would be helpless to stop him._

_Helpless._

Marcus' thoughts evaporated when he saw two more figures, blurry from the direct hit to his eye, walk out from behind Douglas. He strained to make them out. Who were those people…kids…? He would have to use his bionics to zoom in, no matter how much of a headache they gave him.

Several windows popped up in his vision, asking him if he would like to zoom in or zoom out, then saying further, "System overload. Are you sure you would like to continue?"

Marcus paused. And then he laughed inside. Why would he pause when he just knew he would die anyway? What was the point? He might as well see who his assassins were while he was still alive.

_Yes,_ he replied to the computer in his head. Immediately, his vision cleared and he saw who the two people were.

_Adam and Bree._

This time, Marcus laughed bitterly, so everyone could hear. What luck—of course, Chase's siblings, who never went anywhere without each other.

They all stared at him as if he was crazy, until Adam, goofy, dumb Adam, asked, "Why are you laughing when you're about to die?" But it wasn't a lighthearted, jokey tone of voice. It was a menacing, icy voice that Marcus had never heard before.

Marcus narrowed his eyes, and said, "I'm thinking about this sardonic moment. Who would have known that this is how it would all end? You know, to think that how, we've reversed roles."

Bree stared at him hostilely. "The only reason Chase isn't killing you know is because of _him._" She jerked her thumb towards Douglas; glaring at him, hate emanating like a bright, white, visible light.

Douglas folded his leather-encased arms, but he didn't say anything. He stared straight at Marcus. _Help me out here;_ he seemed to be saying with his eyes. _They haven't killed me yet because I'm their father. But they _will_ if you don't help me._

Marcus continued, "Chase can do his best to kill me. Even though I've got no family now," he paused and looked over at Douglas, who seemed nonchalant about the statement, "I'm still more powerful than all of you."

Chase smirked. "What happened to the weak, defenseless, android that I was almost killing earlier? Does wittle Marcus have his confidence back?" He said in a baby tone.

"Yes," Marcus answered in such a chilling tone that all four of them stepped back. He brought his hands, which had been hidden behind his back, in front of them. "Yes, I have." The blue electricity/lightning he'd been forming while they'd been taunting him leaped out of his hands and attached itself, split three ways, to Adam, Bree, and Chase, rendering them unconscious and knocking them out for the next half-hour, since they were bionic and recovered quickly, unfortunately.

Just like the showdown, he brushed his hands together and put them on his hips. "What do you want, _Douglas?_" He spat the name out like a piece of gristle.

Douglas stared at Marcus' sparking right arm, sparking even more now that it had come in direct contact with manipulated lightning.

Marcus hid it behind his back. "I said, what do you want?"

Douglas evaded the question really very smoothly, considering he had just seen Marcus take down Adam, Bree, and Chase in the state he was in and was evidently shocked. "I could fix that for you, you know," he said, nodding his head at the violently sparking arm.

Marcus slowly revealed it again, and said maliciously, "It's a bit too late for that _now,_ don't you think?" He let his eyes turn green just to scare Douglas for a bit into answering the question that made Douglas squirm so uncomfortably. For the first time in forever*, in this game of cat and mouse, for once, _he_, Marcus, was the cat, and Douglas was the pinned mouse. And he enjoyed that feeling. Maybe too much…

Douglas sighed, a very unnecessary sigh, really, and said at last, "I need you to come with me because I need your help."

Marcus suspiciously stated, slowly, "Is this a trap? Because I'm not falling into a trap that I was held in for _fifteen years!_ All you did was put me down and tell me I wasn't good enough, and I'm sick of it! I've had enough! I'm not going to work for you, _Douglas,_ anymore than Adam, Bree, or Chase would. I'm tired of being a weapon that you rely on for your safety!"

Douglas gaped, and then said, "I don't need you for safety! I can protect myself—"

"No," Marcus said flatly. "You can't. Without me, Adam, Bree, and Chase would have destroyed you without a second thought." With that, he turned on his heel and began walking away, ironically, it seemed, for the fourth time today.

Douglas yelled, "You can't just walk away from me like that! I was the one who raised you. I was the one who sheltered you. I was the one who shaped you to become the powerful weap—android you are now!"

Marcus raised his infamously high eyebrow, and said, "Really? Well, then I'm showing my ingratitude to you now for all of the _wonderful_ things you taught me when I was a child."

Douglas reached into his brown leather jacket and said, "I wouldn't walk away, Marcus! Because I have this!" He proudly flourished a gun.

Without look back, Marcus waved his hand and the stun gun Douglas was holding flew several yards away, clattering and clanging on impact.

"No," Marcus said, smiling deliciously. "You _had_ that."*

Douglas reached over into a nearby unlocked car, presumably his, and retrieved a lightning gun. "Oh yeah? Well I've got this virtually indestructible weapon _right here!"_

Marcus fired two lasers at the gun and it seemingly vanished, and then continued walking away, away from Douglas, away from the still bodies of Adam, Bree, and Chase, away, it seemed, from everything that had haunted him, pained him, tortured him.

Away.

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**So how did you like it? Tell me by reviewing! Oh, and a question: Was who appeared/the savior expected or was it a surprise? It was the classic "Douglas" appearance, but I made all of them appear, since a tiny tiny twist right there, yes? Anyway, for Chapter 7 I would like five more reviews! So please review, review, review if you want the next chapter! And because I'm nice I only left you guys on a SLIGHT cliffhanger :-)**

**Don't forget to check out my other LR stories, Thoughts of the Truth, Bionic Ice Skating, and Too Much!**

**Footnote #1: For you Frozen fans, you understand what that means, right?  
**

**Footnote #2: I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself with that scene. It was too much fun writing it :-D**

**(I apologize for any spelling/grammatical errors.)**


	7. Wrong Answer

**Hey, y'all! So! Chapter 7 here; I hope you enjoy it-it's mostly the previous chapter semi-flashback (if you can really call it that). I am updating once again so soon because I got a LOT of reviews (for this story, at least)! So please, continue doing so!  
**

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Disclaimer: I do not own Lab Rats.

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_Douglas sighed, a very unnecessary sigh, really, and said at last, "I need you to come with me because I need your help."_

_Marcus suspiciously stated, slowly, "Is this a trap? Because I'm not falling into a trap that I was held in for fifteen years! All you did was put me down and tell me I wasn't good enough, and I'm sick of it! I've had enough! I'm not going to work for you, Douglas, anymore than Adam, Bree, or Chase would. I'm tired of being a weapon that you rely on for your safety!"_

_Douglas gaped, and then said, "I don't need you for safety! I can protect myself—" _

"_No," Marcus said flatly. "You can't. Without me, Adam, Bree, and Chase would have destroyed you without a second thought." With that, he turned on his heel and began walking away, ironically, it seemed, for the fourth time today._

_Douglas yelled, "You can't just walk away from me like that! I was the one who raised you. I was the one who sheltered you. I was the one who shaped you to become the powerful weap—android you are now!"_

_Marcus raised his infamously high eyebrow, and said, "Really? Well, then I'm showing my ingratitude to you now for all of the wonderful things you taught me when I was a child." _

_Douglas reached into his brown leather jacket and said, "I wouldn't walk away, Marcus! Because I have this!" He proudly flourished a gun._

_Without look back, Marcus waved his hand and the stun gun Douglas was holding flew several yards away, clattering and clanging on impact._

"_No," Marcus said, smiling deliciously. "You had that."_

_Douglas reached over into a nearby unlocked car, presumably his, and retrieved a lightning gun. "Oh yeah? Well I've got this virtually indestructible weapon right here!"_

_Marcus fired two lasers at the gun and it seemingly vanished, and then continued walking away, away from Douglas, away from the still bodies of Adam, Bree, and Chase, away, it seemed, from everything that had haunted him, pained him, tortured him._

_Away._

Marcus was walking down an alley, trashed with graffiti screaming on the walls. His hands, one human looking and one robotic, metallic, and sparking, were both hanging limply at his sides.

He toyed with a loose wire until it zapped his human-hand, and then let it fall—and that was when he heard footsteps.

He looked up, startled, and saw a boy slightly older than him, with a sneer that could curdle dairy* and brown, crooked teeth, stained with tobacco juice.

"Hey," said the kid. "Got any money?"

Marcus had shoved his hand behind his back, hopefully before the kid had seen, and said, "Nope."

The kid, seemingly innocent, suddenly whistled, and three other kids, similar in appearance, surrounded him in the alley.

"_That,_" the kid sneered, "_was the wrong answer." _

Marcus' eyes traveled from the original kid, seemingly the leader, to the one standing next to him, who had a rat's face, and then to the third one, with purple streaks in his hair, and then the fourth one, who was big, mean, and scary. The fourth one kept slamming his right meaty fist into the palm of his left hand. With each slam, the alley seemed to get darker and darker.

"Get him!" The first kid, dubbed "Tobacco," leaped at Marcus, and Marcus, with his quick, robotic reflexes, dodged, leaving Tobacco to fall down, chin-first.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Marcus smiled. The second one, nicknamed, "Ratty," charged forward with two fists, and landed a powerful uppercut to Marcus, who stumbled back but recovered so quickly Ratty was caught unprepared as Marcus kicked him in the groin. Ratty was thrown backwards and lay there, unmoving.

There were only two left to fight, "Purple Streaks" and "Meaty." Streaks and Meaty both advanced slowly on Marcus, thinking that he was caught.

Oh, no. Far from that.

Marcus lifted his palms up, and said, "If I were you I'd think _twice_ about touching me."

Meaty grunted. "Why should we? It's two against one."

Streaks smiled greasily. "That's _totally fair,_ isn't it?" He punched Meaty in the arm playfully, and Meaty, in return, smacked Streaks on the head. "Stop it," he growled.

Marcus smiled. "Because this is a warning shot." He activated his lasers and they hit a corner of a building, causing a gigantic hole to appear, bricks crumbling and falling forward, red dust filling the air. He smirked, enjoying the fearful looks on Streaks' and Meaty's faces.

Meaty, suddenly afraid, stopped smacking his fist into his palm. "H-how did you do that?"

Streaks' eyes were wide with fear, and said, "Run!" Streaks and Meaty ran, the cowards they were, leaving behind the ringleader, Tobacco, and the weasel-resembling one, Ratty.

Marcus stepped over to them both, and said, "Have fun, boys," and then he shocked them with a green electrical blast, which would put them in a coma, maybe even cause them to become brain-dead. He couldn't risk anything. He would catch up with Meaty and Streaks later.

Yes, the cold, cruel Marcus was back, the sentimental, soft Marcus was gone. He would do what he wanted to do, and _no one_ could get in his way.

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**So! How did you like it? I'm so, so sorry that it was shorter than normal because the bulk of it was the previous part just to refresh your memories, but I hope the semi-good fight scenes made up for it. So can anyone predict Marcus' thoughts? Tell me what you think he'll do next in the review box-review, review, review! I want five more reviews for Chapter 8!  
**

**Did you like the names? I had fun comin' up with nicknames :-0**

**Footnote #1: If anyone can guess where that line comes from, they get a shout-out. I want the entire bibliography of it-what/where it came from, who said it, where it was said, and what song it was in. (There's a big hint for ya right there, y'all!)**

**(I apologize for any spelling/grammatical errors.)**


	8. Plans

**Hey, y'all! Wow, 54 reviews! I'm pleased, but I'm also disappointed compared to some other stories... so please, if you have a keyboard, review! Shout-out to daphrose for figuring out where that line "my sneer could curdle dairy" came from. I'm disappointed in y'all; she was the only one to answer that question! Well... ya can't have everything.  
**

**But there's a more serious matter I would like to address for Chapter 8. Please read this: I received a rude, if not _very_ rude guest review from someone named "KickandBelli." I quote: "This is boring. And it's an old story idea. Why do people read this kind of stuff? It's OBVIOUS that Marcus died, or else Disney XD would have brought him back a LONG time ago. I just plain think it's dumb, so, yeah, work on your author's skills." That really stung. I know not everyone will review nicely, but that's almost flaming, and it's nothing close to constructive criticism. So please, if you have something nice to say, go ahead! If there's something wrong with the story, please phrase it in a constructive criticism structure. But _do not flame._ Please.**

**Anyway, without further ado, Chapter 8!**

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Disclaimer: I do not own Lab Rats.

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_Yes, the cold, cruel Marcus was back, the sentimental, soft Marcus was gone. He would do what he wanted to do, and no one could get in his way._

Marcus flexed his right hand, so different from when he had two years ago. Then, it had been pale, and perfect, and whole. He had convinced himself it was actually a real human hand. Now—now it was in a terrible state and it made a sort of whirring, clicking noise whenever he made the slightest movement with that arm.

But how was he going to hide it? It was April, now, and eventually he would have to take off his gloves—summer would be coming soon, and it would be too hot to wear gloves. And he couldn't coop himself up for the remainder of his life. He wanted to enjoy what it felt like to just _live,_ before he shut down. Before he died.

And he didn't _know_ what he was going to do with his life. He didn't want to become a scared, broken, emotional fifteen-year-old kid. But his encounter with Chase—_and_ Adam, Bree, and Douglas—made him realize that doing things that caused death and destruction, well—he wasn't cut out for it full time.

But part-time…

He smiled, faintly. Part-time, he could do.

* * *

Adam, Bree, and Chase groaned. All they could remember were seeing Marcus cower, his back pressed against the hard brick wall, enjoying his defeat, when suddenly, they'd been knocked out, and he had smiled and said something. What had he said? Even Chase, the only one with a perfect memory, couldn't remember…

"_Even though I've got no family now, I'm still more powerful than all of you."_

That menacing statement said coldly and with no emotion in Marcus' gravelly voice, had made them all shiver down to their core. It's what he had said before Chase had almost fallen to his death and be chopped up by a meat grinder, it's what he had said when Adam had met his match and become severely wounded, it's what he had said when Bree had suddenly become "slow," where she suddenly felt a break in her confidence.

It's what he had said then.

And it's what he had said now.

Chase was the first one to regain consciousness, followed closely by Adam, and then Bree.

He propped himself up and leaned on elbow. "Douglas," he gasped. "Douglas was there. He stopped me from letting Marcus die. He let him get away."

Bree had thought Chase would have said the last sentence with anger, but his voice was flat, as if too shocked to remember what had happened in the past hour. "It's not your fault, Chase. We all know by now that Marcus _is_ more powerful than us. When I look back on the showdown, it wasn't us who defeated him. We never got a shot in. It was the rocks—due to Adam's blast-wave—but even so, that would have only ever been temporary."

Chase nodded. "We need to figure out what we're going to do if we ever encounter Marcus again."

Adam was staring off into space.

Bree nudged him. "Adam!" she shouted. "What are you doing?" She knocked on the side of his head with her knuckles for effect, but he didn't even turn her head.

He looked at her. "Oh, hi, Bree! How are you doing today? I'd like a decaf with skim milk, hold the sugar."

Bree sighed. "Sounds like he's back to normal," she said to Chase. Turning towards Adam, she emphasized, "Adam! Snap out of it! We are _not_ at a café and I am _not_ a waitress that is about to take your, uh, coffee order!"

Adam grinned. "I know. I just wanted to see your reaction."

Bree groaned and crossed her arms. "Does anyone know what to do now? Chase?"

Chase ran his hands through his hair, a sign Bree recognized as nervousness. "Well, first of all, we should tell Mr. Davenport. He needs to know that Marcus is back and out and about."

Adam nodded, seriously. "What about Douglas? Where is he now?"

Chase put his right finger to his temple and his eye glowed a bright blue as he scanned the area. "The scan says he's not in a ten-mile range within us. Coward that he is, he most likely fled."

"One question," Bree said, smirking. "How do you think Leo is going to take this?"

Adam raised his hand. "Ooh! Ooh! I know that answer to that!"

Bree rolled her eyes and sighed once more, exasperated. "You don't have to raise your hand, Adam! We're not in school!"

Adam put his hand down and pouted, but then got over it and said, "He'll faint."

Chase chuckled. "That's for sure." Then his grin vanished. "But we're going to need to think this through seriously. Marcus seems to have gotten his confidence back, although he was weak and afraid when it was just he and I. So he's a powerhouse."

Bree stated, "So your point is…?"

Chase responded, grimly, "In the next three months, we are going to be directed on a _lot _of missions trying to track him down and stop him."

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**Should I continue? Nah, that's a good ending right there. I know it's more than a bit short, but I want to leave you like that so I can get more reviews. I want five more reviews for Chapter 9! So please, review, review, review!**

**Because Chapter 9 is a filler, Chapter 10 is over 2,000 words and includes a MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR fight scene! But to get there first, we need to get to Chapter 9, and to get there, we need to get five reviews on this chapter! So review!**

**And, KickandBelli, if you're reading this, understand that your rude review was not appreciated. Please stop being so inconsiderate. How would you like it if you woke up to see someone flaming on your hard-worked-on story? And, also, if you thought that it was so bad, why did you read all the way up to the last chapter? And why did you click on it if you were biased against "what if [insert character] didn't die?" Thank you for your time and do answer if you continued reading this awful, boring story.  
**

**(I apologize for any spelling/grammatical errors.)**


	9. The Call

**Hey, y'all! How are y'all doing? I'm doing just awful, thank you for asking. I will not be nice now and I will not put any sugar in my comments to KickandBelli. I quote: "Gee, thanks for deleting my review. And Vampire Girl, I read your review. I am NOT jealous and I honestly think that this story stinks-about EVERYTHING! Too bad I can't report this. Meh mesh meh, I bet that MAJOR fight scene is boring, blah blah blah. And I am NOT flaming-I'm just telling you what you need to know-this fucking story is stupid. I read up to the last chapter because I was hoping it would get better-you should totally appreciate that I simply took time to read this dumb story-you have no idea who I am, but if you do figure out, I'm famous. Like, really famous. So be grateful that I'm even just reviewing!"**

**You need to stop. You are being extremely rude in reviewing, and to be frank, I don't care if you're Justin Bieber or Selena Gomez. You are just like everyone else no matter how much people idolize you, and the rules apply to you, too-no flaming; constructive criticism is welcome. I apologize to polite reviewers if I'm giving KickandBelli a hard time, but this story means almost the world to me and I am upset if someone flames that discourteously on this story. I will from now on be moderating your reviews, so good luck trying to get your friends to join in on flaming this story. **

**I would like to thank Vampire girl for sticking up for me, as well as MoonlitShadowsoftheHumanSoul (you have spirit, my friend), XxXIamaroleplayingfangirlXxX, Green Bean 8 (Guest) and daphrose. Thank you all for being so loyal to this story! And I'm so sorry for the ranting A/N.  
**

**Anyways, on a more positive note, I'm back with yet another chapter :-) This will be a slight filler chapter, but it's vital to the next, awesome, chapter with bionic fights! So, enjoy!  
**

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Disclaimer: I do not own Lab Rats.

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_Bree stated, "So your point is…?"_

_Chase responded, grimly, "In the next three months, we are going to be directed on a lot of missions trying to track him down and stop him."_

Adam, Bree, and Chase picked themselves up, dusted themselves off, and each of them stood there, silent, until Chase said, "I'm going to call Mr. Davenport."

Once again, he put his right finger to his temple and said, "Activating cell service." There was one beep, and then he continued, "Connect to Donald Davenport." The selected number flashed, and then he heard the ringtone, until Davenport picked it up.

"_Chase?"_ Donald said, relief in his voice. "Where have you been? I sent Adam and Bree to find you by tracking down your coordinates after you didn't come home! Four hours, Chase! You were supposed to be home from school _four hours ago!"_

By the time Davenport was done he was shouting, and Chase winced, as, unlike a manual cellphone, he couldn't pull it away from his ear—it was all in his head.

"Look," Chase said quietly so as not to draw unwanted attention from bystanders thinking that he was talking to himself and being crazy, "Adam and Bree are with me, safe and sound, yes, yes, no, of course not!" He finished, anticipating the next questions Donald would ask. He was, in fact, dead on with each of the questions.

Not hearing the final answers, Donald asked, "So you're safe? Did something so significant happen you had to miss training? Did you reveal your bionic secret?"

Chase stood there, silent, waiting for the recognition to kick in.

"Ohhhh," Donald said, dragging the "oh" out. "Never mind."

Chase rolled his eyes and mouthed to Adam and Bree, _"This guy," _incredulously. He then resumed talking. "Look—here's what happened! I was coming home from school when someone bumped into me—"

Donald sounded panicked. "Are you okay? It must be serious if someone bumping into you delayed you for four hours!"

Chase grumbled, "You didn't let me finish!" A group of women pushing baby strollers looked over at him, alarmed that he seemed to be yelling at himself while putting a finger to his forehead. He saw one of the mothers whisper and nudge to one another, "Is the poor thing alright or does he need mental help?"

Chase sent a brief but _very _embarrassed smile towards the mothers, who in return edged away from him as if he was a rabid dog, and then whispered to Donald, "Hold on for a moment." He then took his finger away from his temple and said to Adam and Bree, "First of all, I_ need to find a place to talk where people don't look at me like I'm bonkers!"_

Adam smiled. "I am enjoying this way too much!" He licked an ice-cream cone that he seemed to have acquired from an ice-cream truck while Chase had been talking to Davenport. "What? While you're talking on the phone I can't get ice-cream?"

Chase glared at him.

Adam replied, oblivious to the fact that Chase was glaring at him furiously, "It's prickly pear and strawberry!* I've never tried it before." He slurped some more happily before continuing, "Do you want to try?" He held out the cone to Chase.

Chase opened his mouth, most likely to say something with a cutting edge, but Bree cut in before they began to fight too severely. "Chase, Adam—I can speed you to some abandoned warehouse where we can talk in peace."

Chase began, "Sounds good, but—"

Bree looked around very, very quickly, making sure no one was watching, and then grabbed Adam with her left arm and Chase with her right arm and zoomed off, depositing them three seconds later in a warehouse that was quiet. In fact, it was almost _too_ quiet. And that was never a good thing.

Obliviously, Chase looked around. "Okay, I think we have some privacy here." He then resumed his call. "Okay, Mr. Davenport—Mr. Davenport? Um, are you there?"

Donald, who had been watching his YouTube channel of the animated version of his book, "How To Make A Billion Dollars," fumbled around with the tracker COM set* before saying, "Yes! Yes! I'm here!"

Chase sighed. "Okay, so you won't _ever_ believe who bumped into me."

Davenport waited with bated breath. "Douglas?"

Chase said, "Even worse. Marcus _and_ Douglas."

* * *

Marcus watched from the roof beams of the abandoned warehouse—he had tracked them through their GPS signals and then followed them using his super-speed. And then, he'd used his agility to stick to the walls, and was now watching them, smiling—and it wasn't a good one.

_They're here,_ he thought. _What are you going to do? You can't let Donald get here. He would bring his weapons and even that would be too much for you. You have to take Adam, Bree, and Chase out before he gets here._

_Done,_ he thought. _Easy._

He sprang down, unhurt as he landed behind them, and then hid behind a tower of white bricks that were faded red.

He watched as they all wheeled around. _They're on edge,_ he noted. _That's even better._

Bree called out, "Who's there?"

Marcus didn't answer. He wanted to toy with them for a bit before taking the offensive side. Surprise was _always_ the best element in fighting.

Chase called out, just like Bree, "Show yourself! We heard you. We know you're there. And we're most likely a better fighter than you."

There was a long period of quiet, it seemed, that lasted for hours, until they turned back around and began walking out the door.

Marcus fired off three rounds of lasers, one aimed close to Adam, nicking his ear, one singing Bree's left side of her hair partly, and one striking Chase on the shoe—none of them extremely harmed, but enough to let them know there _was_ someone there.

Chase wheeled around. "Adam—w-w-as that you? Please tell me that was you!"

Adam sighed good-naturedly, and smiled at Chase. "Chase! I thought you were the smart one. My lasers aren't green! They're red! And they melt things," he indicated in his rare moments of intelligence. "Those green lasers _obliterated_ things, not melted them."

Bree began to piece the facts together. "But—those lasers were green. And Adam's the only person who has the lasers ability…"

Chase finished it grimly. "And we all know who has green lasers and has abilities similar to ours."

"Marcus," they all finished together.

Marcus was done toying with them. With his eyebrow raised, he stepped out from the shadows and spread his arms out in a mock friendly gesture. "I heard my name—you called, yes?"

Bree yelped. "What are you going to do?"

Marcus smiled—such a good smile that, even to Chase, it almost seemed genuine. "Oh, don't worry, princess! I'm not going to destroy any_thing_."

They all relaxed slightly, until they heard what Marcus said next.

"But I _am_ going to harm some_one._"

* * *

**So! There you go. Cliffhanger! How'd you like it? Tell me a) how you liked it, and b) what you think will happen in the next chapter! Review, review, review, because I would like five to six more reviews for Chapter Ten, which is actually over 2,000 words, like I said in the A/N in Ch. 8, so... yeah!**

**And remember, KickandBelli, do not try anything like this again. I'm not to be trifled with. _I know my way around a computer the way you would with the back of your hand._ And just because you think you're protected because you're a guest; think again...  
**

**Footnote #1: I was at a Farmer's Market in Tucson, Arizona, when I tried this. Delicious, lemme tell you! You've GOT to try it sometime ;-)**

**Footnote #2: I think that's how you spell it... not completely sure... we'll see.**

**(I apologize for any spelling/grammatical errors.)**


	10. Struggle

**Hey y'all! A 3,000-word chapter coming right up! **

**Alright, I'm tired of this KickandBelli flaming to the point where I didn't want to update. But you all don't want that to happen, do you? I will not waste any more time ranting about KAB flaming; all she wants is attention. Apparently, she began flaming on daphrose's stories just because daphrose stuck up for me. One final note-shut your flapping a***, no one cares that you're famous, where you ARE or AREN'T. **

**Anyways, thank you all SO MUCH for your support! I would like to give shout-outs (for supporting me during those flames) to the following:  
**

**daphrose, for being a wonderfully _passionate_ reviewer and virtually squealing to the point where it's creeping me out  
dreamer4evera, for emphasizing to KAB that we are all human and we all have feelings  
DisneyXDGirl, for being complimentary and standing up to KAB in a way I could never do  
RazaratheFirst, for being ever so deliciously sarcastic to that no-good KAB and standing up for me to the point where it's a fault  
ilovebreedavenport, for complimenting me on my writing skills  
Vampire Girl, (thought about getting a membership? That would be cool :-D) for being a faithful reviewer and reviewing on every chapter AND forgiving me for the ranting  
Keha H8r (did you mean Ke$ha?), for being very complimentary  
BTRlover1122, for using a cuss word in a such a damn good way that it made me feel all sparkly and bubbly inside  
XxXIamaroleplayingfangirlXxX, for being excited about me updating :-)  
And to everyone else who stood up for me/liked this story!  
**

**Anyways, since shout-outs are now done, I'm back from a boring, filler Chapter 9 with an awesome, fight-filled, action-packed Chapter 10 that I promised you! Since you all reviewed a LOT, I'm giving you this now! Not very, very long, but it's certainly longer than my others. So enjoy the chapter and please review!**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Lab Rats.

* * *

"_Oh, don't worry, princess! I'm not going to destroy anything."_

_They all relaxed slightly, until they heard what Marcus said next._

"_But I am going to harm someone."_

The three bionic teenagers slowly rounded on Marcus, who leaned against the tower of faded white bricks.

"What do you want this time, Marcus?"

"I don't want anything," he said in an emotionless, gravelly tone of voice. "I want something else entirely."

Bree said just as coldly, "You'll never get what you want. We'll make sure of that." She resumed a fighting stance.

Marcus beckoned with his good and bad arm, as if inviting them to come and join in with a fight. "Go ahead! Give it your best shot."

Chase smirked. "Gladly." He motioned, with his arm, a downward spiral, in which a loose beam above came crashing down, only to bounce right back upwards and go sailing out through the hole in the roof.

Marcus deactivated his invisible force field. "I'm not impressed."

Bree sped over to him and began jabbing him in the ribs, crotch area, and elbows with her super-fast attacks, but he dodged them with an ease that made her envious, which only fueled her to hit him even harder and faster, but to no avail.

With one fluid motion, he blocked her running into him with his arm and flung her upwards, and then threw her back at Adam and Chase, sending her tumbling into them.

They all fell down, with a comical "Oof!" before getting back up, although, Marcus noted, it took Adam, Bree, and Chase longer to recover.

Adam was silent, but Marcus poked at him. "Let's see what you can do, big boy."

Adam began drawing energy from surrounding electric sources, which then flowed into his clenched fists. He released the blast-wave, but Marcus was still standing, upright and perfectly still. _What?_

Marcus smiled. "Oh, you three just don't get it! I absorbed the blast-wave. It's a wonderful ability, being able to suck up all the energy from an attack, so good luck trying to use any elements against me!"

Adam charged towards Marcus, with his head down like a bull's, and sent Marcus ramming into the wall, but he shoved his hand out and caught Adam molecular-kinetically by the collar, keeping him hovering three feet off the ground, just _barely_ out of kicking range.

Marcus laughed. "Anyone up for a piñata crashing?" He focused, as hard as he could, to get the saws to pop out, and to his surprise, as well as everyone else's, they did.

"Time to cut it open!" He toyed with Adam by bringing it towards his torso very slowly, while Chase and Bree were still with shock with what Marcus was about to do.

But one of the two did make a move. Bree sped towards Marcus and pushed him down, causing his focus on activating the saws dissipate, and they disappeared. Chase fought fire with fire, or, in this case, molecular-kinesis with molecular-kinesis. He cupped his hand around Adam's "scruff" and tried yanking it towards him.

Unfortunately, Marcus' focus on the molecular-kinetic grip on Adam was not broken and he strained to keep Adam in his molecular-kinetic grasp.

Bree watched with horror, yet fascination, as the two boys, the same age, struggled for control for another boy, much older, floating in the air.

Now there was something she didn't see every day.

It seemed as if it was at a draw when suddenly, beads of sweat began pouring down Chase's face. "I can't hold much longer, Adam! Bree! You have to help me!"

Marcus sneered. "That was pitiful. You can't hold on to your older brother with a molecular-kinetic grip for less than a minute!"

Now, even though Marcus and Chase were not actually touching Adam, the forces of physics still apply. (And as Chase was a genius, he knew the forces of physics-from acceleration to... well, everything!) It was like there was an imaginary rope connecting Adam to Marcus one way, and Chase another. If Chase let go, Marcus would go flying backwards with the unexpected weight of Adam.

And that is exactly what Chase did. He opened his hand like a flowering bud, so quickly Marcus didn't have time to prepare, before Marcus went flying.

Bree sped over, so fast she appeared to have teleported, towards Adam, and yanked him back towards the other end of the room where Chase was standing, tenderly massaging his neck where is his chip was, where he most likely had stressed the system.

Marcus groaned, in pain, and slowly picked himself up, concealing himself in a cloak of shadows. "You've trained hard," he commented, dusting himself off.

Chase grinned. "I certainly have, haven't I—whoa!" Before he was done bragging, Marcus, who had super-sped over to Chase and shoved him, had pushed him down.

Chase winced painfully, and Adam offered his arm. "You okay, Chasey?"

Chase glowered at Adam. "Really? Now?"

Adam smiled goofily. "I can't help it!" He cheerfully pulled Chase up and onto his feet, where they all resumed their fighting stances against Marcus, who had sped back over to the other side of the room.

Marcus waited for them to move. He was calibrating their moves when they had fought earlier, at the park, using his super smarts, and he anticipated Bree's next move perfectly.

She began creating a huge cyclone, stirring up the bricks and broken wooden boards and all of the other dust particles, creating such a thick, dense, barrier-like tornado that Marcus almost couldn't see.

_Almost._

_Super-sight engaged,_ green letters flashed in his head. His vision cleared and he could see everything distinctly, down to the red rings on Bree's mission suit while dust and dirt surrounded her in a foot-wide perimeter.

He activated his force field and began advancing on Bree, who was unaware he had his force field with him, since it was completely invisible unless something touched its boundaries.

She began advancing on him, with the brown mass of whirling objects swirling around her, she the eye of the "hurricane," faster and faster, until he sped towards her.

Almost immovable force met almost impenetrable force, and when they clashed together, neither of them could push each other.

Instead they found themselves pushing _against_ each other, willing the other force to collapse.

Marcus was ready to try the same trick on Bree that Chase had done on him, but Bree was smarter than he thought. Just as he was about to lower his force field, she disappeared in the swirling tornado.

Marcus strained, even with his super-sight, to see through the howling winds of bricks and red dust. Where was she?

And then he heard a voice. It was _his_! What had Bree done?

"Nice try, cupcake!" Bree said, in a perfect imitation of Marcus' voice. How had she done that?

Chase grasped Adam tightly. "Bree lost! That was Marcus!"

Bree switched back to her voice in her invisible hiding place, wherever she was. "_No one_ calls me cupcake!"

The _real_ Marcus yelled, "Bree, what are you doing!?"

Unfortunately, it made perfect sense with the fake conversation-the real Marcus was confused, and the fake Marcus could have been startled at how Bree was fake-attacking him. So, Chase and Adam continued cowering and watching the unmoving shadows behind the bricks, wondering who would win the fight.

Bree answered, in her real voice, "I'm winning this fight, Marcus, that's what I'm doing! She then once again switched to Marcus' voice. "Oh, really, princess? Let's make this fun, shall we?" She suddenly stopped spinning and the winds disappeared, only to be replaced with her moving super-fast, in circles, around Marcus, surprising him. His hair whipped around.

Adam gasped. "Marcus is playing Duck, Duck, Goose with Bree! Look at him go!" He pumped his arms and began cheering an inaudible cheer. Who he was cheering for, Chase never knew.

Chase rolled his eyes. "No, he's using his speed to stun her!"

For Bree was running so fast Chase and Adam couldn't actually see who was running around and who was the person _being_ ran around. They mistook Bree for Marcus, and Marcus for Bree.

The both watched Bree run around Marcus so fast their hair blew back and there was a shift in air temperature, and it gradually began to get cooler, and cooler, and cooler, almost to the point where it was freezing in the warehouse.

Marcus thought bitterly, _"Oh, she's a clever one all right._" Douglas had never given him vocal manipulation, although he had heard of it. Although—

Marcus was jerked out of his thoughts when Bree, who had been running in concentric circles around him, tighter and tighter, until she was practically touching him, yanked him by the left arm, the good arm, and threw him, with her speedy momentum, towards the wall, where he crashed into it.

Chase yelled, "Bree!" He was about to start running towards Marcus when Bree sped over to him. "Don't bother," she said.

Chase gaped. "But—but… that—that was you!"

"No," Bree corrected playfully. "You _thought_ that was me. Who knew vocal manipulation was so handy?"

Chase's confused frown broke into a grin, and he shoved Bree in the shoulder just as playfully. "You tricky she-demon!*"

"You're cleverer than I thought, _Bree_," Marcus spat as he stood up, back hunched, startling them all. "But you'll never beat me."

Bree smiled cockily. "Seems like I just did," she remarked.

Marcus smiled a slow smile. "Not in the long run," he replied. "I'm not going to spend the next twenty-four hours fighting with you. I have better things to do with my time," she said.

Adam broke in, challenging Marcus. "Like what, cry to the Apple employees that your pitiful little hard-drive crashed?"

Marcus scowled at Adam. "You three never let me finish!" His wires sparked, as though the angrier he got the louder _they_ sparked, but they quieted as Adam, Bree, and Chase recoiled, and Marcus continued. "I need you all to come with me."

Chase interrupted once more. "We'll never go with you, not in a million years."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I phrased that wrong," Marcus smirked. "I meant to say, you _will_ come with me, or else…*" he sped over to Bree and grabbed her with him, speeding back over to the side of the room he had "claimed" in the fight, before she could cry out, "…your little princess will die, right here, right now." He held the three spinning saws to Bree's throat, where they barely made contact with her skin, enough to bruise but not to bleed.

Bree's eyes widened as she begged, silently, for Chase and Adam to do something, _anything_-but to not save her! _Don't risk your lives by going with this monster,_ her eyes said inaudibly. _Save yourselves __while you can. Go to Mr. Davenport and escape now! Don't come back for me. Mr. Davenport will know what to do. I can protect myself. I'll be fine in Marcus' captivity._

Adam stared at Marcus as if he were a murderer, which, in fact, he practically was, brown eyes icy. Chase was looking at Marcus with a mixture of horror and shock that he would do such a thing; go to so far extremes.

After a minute stare-down, Chase consented.

"Fine," he said, his voice hard. "We'll go with you."

"Just don't hurt Bree," Adam negotiated, where Chase nodded, until Adam added, "She owes me five dollars from that bet during Bionic Brother Toss."

The intense staring evaporated. "Really, Adam?"

Adam shrugged. "I want my money's worth."

Chase sighed in annoyance and whispered to Adam, "This is our chance to take back Bree. We have to make Marcus believe that we're going along with his plan. And then, we stab him in the back."

Adam nodded furiously. "And then, we show Marcus our best nonexistent friend Bobo the monkey and he'll teach him how to love!"

"Honestly?" Chase looked daggers at Adam.

Adam smiled. "Monkey fantasies are popular now! Go with the flow, Chase! It'll get you a girlfriend!" He winked.

Chase groaned. He really would have to come up with a bionic comeback, such as briefly lifting Adam in the air with his molecular-kinesis, the next time Adam made a short joke about girlfriends. "Just go along with what Marcus wants for the time being and then follow what I do when I say do _it._"

Adam slid his hand over his face, and said, to accompany his actions, "Going into subtle mode."

(Page break.)

Donald Davenport paced, around and around and around the lab, wondering where Adam, Bree, and Chase were now. He was relieved that Chase had called, so now he could stop worrying that Chase, and Adam and Bree, were in danger—

"Stop it, Donald!" He yelled at himself. He struggled to keep his calm. Where were the kids? Even without Bree's speed, they should have been home by now…

He opened up a GPS signal map, and to his relief once more, he saw their GPS signals—one pink, one blue, one green.

"They're okay," he sighed, evidently reassured. "They're okay," he repeated, just to hear it once more.

He called to Leo, "Adam, Bree, and Chase are okay!"

Leo poked his head around the doors to the lab. "Yeah, Big D, I noticed! But why haven't they come home, yet? They could have just climbed on Bree and she could've sped them home... no, too many people would be around them if someone had bumped into Chase... hm..."

The small boy was in deep thought on why Adam, Bree, and Chase hadn't arrived home yet, but Donald was so giddy with relief he said once more, with laughter, "They're okay!"

Leo stared at Donald as if he was crazy. Which, in fact, he probably was. Crazy with relief, that is. "Yeah, okay, Big D, you're freaking me out now..." He edged out of the room and then stuck his head around once more. "By the way, Mom says it's time for dinner. She'll drag you up personally if you don't get up from that awful computer screen!" Near the end he imitated his mother's voice, though nowhere close to Bree's pitch-perfect vocal manipulation. He then pushed the button to the elevator and rode up.

Donald whispered it one last time, just savoring it on his tongue. "They're okay..."

But were they, really?

(Page break.)

Marcus leered in the darkness. He had set his trap. He had what he wanted. And now—he could prove those three things that he wanted. Those three things that he _needed._

Respect.

Independence.

And—

* * *

**Ha! Slight cliffie; can anyone guess what that oh-so-mysterious third thing is? Shout-out in the next chapter if ya can! Did you like it? Did you hate it? Tell me what you think; constructive criticism is _more_ than welcome :-)  
**

**Since this was such a relatively longer chapter than others and had some major fight scenes, I'm upping the amount of reviews I want for Chapter 11-I require _ten_. So tell everyone you know who likes Lab Rats about this story! ;-) So review, review, review! And also, an important note: this story will be placed on a minor hiatus for about two to three weeks, maybe a month at most, because I would really like to finish Thoughts of the Truth, as I haven't updated the epilogue for that in over two weeks. And there's the sequel I've started writing for that, Clandestine Covers (portmanteau title), and I'd like to get that up as soon as possible. So! This will not be updated, at a minimum, until two weeks later. I'm sorry, but there are some desperate Thoughts of the Truth fans that would like to see the final chapter.  
**

**Also, I noticed something ironic. It seems like KickandBelli WANTS to be yelled at because he/she always reviews under the same name! Crazy, right? Again, this is the last time I will mention KAB because all she/he wants is attention. I will warn other authors: she/he will, no doubt, begin flaming your stories if you stand up for me. If you are very passionate, (ahem, I'm talking to YOU, Rosie!) thank you very much! If not, that's fine. You don't have to stand up for me if you don't want to. Sending a PM is enough, though, as I have a very strong feeling she/he is reading the reviews that I have accumulated on this story. How do I know she'll flame on your stories? Because she/he's already flamed on poor daphrose's stories. That's why. And who knows who else she/he'll flame on?  
**

**Footnote #1: One of my friends on this site is a full-time she-demon-so that's where I got the idea to mention it! (That's right, Miss I-have-a-name-that-means-reborn, I'm talkin' to you!)  
**

**Footnote #2: This phrase (I changed it slightly) came from an author/friend of mine, KrisKat, from her story, At Gun Point! Check it out, as well as ALL of her other stories. They are worth your time and you will NOT regret it :-)**

**(I apologize for any spelling/grammatical errors and for the ranting, long, boring Author's Notes.)**


	11. Worry

**Hey, y'all! It's me with yet another chapter! Before you pounce on me, I'm sorry about the hiatus. But I really was very busy with other work. So this chapter is relatively short, but... I hope that you enjoy it! And I'm trying to cut down on the lengthy A/Ns. So this isn't really very long, is it? Anyway, without further ado, Chapter 11! It was rushed, yes, so... there may be some errors.  
**

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Disclaimer: I do not own Lab Rats.

* * *

_Marcus leered in the darkness. He had set his trap. He had what he wanted. And now—he could prove those three things that he wanted. Those three things that he needed._

_Respect._

_Independence._

_And—_

Love. That was all he needed. That was what had been missing in his younger years—throughout his childhood, he had never received any love, any attention, any praise. His life had been training; his life had been being scolded, his life had been put down, saying he was never enough. And all Marcus wanted to do was change that.

The path to that, however, would be very bloody, very vicious, and very ruthless.

But he would make it work.

_He had to._

* * *

Douglas wouldn't have ever thought he actually cared about Marcus. In fact, his whole life, he'd just thought of him as "Hey, you," or "Come here." He never… _bonded _with him. And as a result, Marcus hated him. And maybe that was just what he deserved. But—as he looked up at the dark blue sky he thought about how Marcus had just walked _away_ from him, without any second thought. Without any thought, whatsoever. And it had actually hurt. Stung.

He needed to find him. Soon. Very soon. Because he had a plan formulating in his mind. But to be able to finish it, he needed Marcus. For safety, for protection, for reliability… just _everything._

The only problem would be getting Marcus to see his side of the story.

Yes, Douglas himself knew that he was… not _evil,_ quite, but certainly—sociopathic, shall we say. He refused to think of himself as bad. He only wanted to suit the needs of his customers, as he'd told Donald. And everyone refused to see his side of the story.

But Marcus knew him better than anyone else, save for Donald.

But _he had to get him to understand._

_**He's coming for you.**_

* * *

Donald was really very worried now. Where were the kids? Why weren't they coming? They needed to come, fast, soon, _now._ Chase had called, and they were supposed to be okay. Hadn't they been okay? There okay, right?

"Eddy, am I jittery? Do I seem jittery to you? Huh? Huh? _ANSWER ME!"_

Eddy flicked on, and said, "Whoa, there, Donny boy! Jittery? No! Demented? Yes!" And then he switched off.

Donald tried to calm himself down, but knowing Marcus was still alive and Douglas was on the loose, he just couldn't stop his heart from pounding so badly. He had to go find them.

He turned on the GPS cyberdesk and then tracked—or, _tried_ to track the chip signals.

But they were off.

No, they were on.

Off.

On.

_This makes no sense!_ Donald screamed mentally in frustration. _One second the chips are on, the next, they're off. Why are they toying with me?_

* * *

Marcus had brought Adam, Bree, and Chase with him to a vitamin store, where they'd gone into the second story. Bree was unconscious, because she'd fainted.

But something about Chase's suspicious behavior made him think that they were planning something… big.

But he had to trust Chase.

What did he want with them?

When Marcus played it out in his head, it sounded perfectly ridiculous. He wanted to bond with them. Get to know them. Maybe wonder what life could've been like if he'd remained friends with them, true friends, instead of betraying them. But they wouldn't trust him. Maybe they never would. It seemed impossible to make amends.

But he could try.

_You're not doing a very good job of it,_ his good side of him whispered. _What kind of friend threatens to hurt the person he wants to be friends with? Or fights them? Or nearly kills them?_

Something stirred in the darkness, and Marcus' eyes flicked over there. "Chase?" He asked. Only Chase would make that kind of sound. Maybe. But he'd classified their actions. Chase had a _distinct_ kind of movement whenever he moved. Hard to describe.

Then, that something went still. Marcus shouldn't have been worried. But something was in the air that seemed like a mysterious aftertaste of the Armageddon.

"_No," _a voice hissed maliciously. _"It's someone you thought you'd killed."_

Marcus jerked his entire head upward, and tried to discern the figure in the dark. That was most definitely not Chase's voice… but then what was it?

His eyes finally adjusted to the dark and then he saw someone that he thought had been left behind; thought for dead.

* * *

**Yes. Short. I'm sorry. I was rushing to get this up, like I said, because I'm really busy and I haven't updated in over a month. Updates will be between every one or two weeks and they will be slightly shorter or slightly longer than this. Occasionally - and I will tell you all - there will be a really long chapter like Ch. 10. But anyway, please review! I would like at least ten reviews for the next chapter. Unreasonable? No. Crazy and demented? That's me! See y'all around! Hopefully in that review box! Clandestine Covers will be updated soon. Probably by this weekend, okay?  
**

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**(I apologize for any spelling/grammatical errors.)**


	12. Remember

**Hey, hey, hey! Look who's back - FINALLY! - with another chapter! *Gets pelted with tomatoes* Don't you dare criticize me for not updating for a while or else you don't get a chapter! *tomatoes die down* Thank you, thank you! Anyways, so sorry that I haven't been updating for a while, but I had severe writer's block, and it finally went away... And the result of the cure was *curtain drops* _this!_ **

**Quick note - I don't want this A/N to be too long, so I won't mince words - _READ PhoenixRisingFromtheFire's (formerly KickandBelli) PROFILE RIGHT NOW!_**

**R&amp;R and enjoy!  
**

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Disclaimer: I do not own Lab Rats.

* * *

_His eyes finally adjusted to the dark and then he saw someone that he thought had been left behind; thought for dead._

"Tobacco?" He squinted. He hated himself immediately for letting his voice raise a little. He wasn't exactly scared, but he wasn't feeling too good, either. Chase—he didn't trust Chase. And yet there was a yearning feeling to just know Chase a little better… maybe there was more to Chase than he was showing. But there was a sense that Chase _was _hiding something. The question was what.

"What did you think, sucker?" Tobacco asked, spitting a wad of his namesake very close to Chase's hair.

Marcus curled his fingers and then uncurled them. Tobacco saw the movement, and then he saw the blue sparks floating around Marcus' fingers, and instinctively stepped back.

"_I_ thought," Tobacco began, his voice chilled, "That you would have known better than to mess with me." He took a semi-tentative two steps forward, and then continued. "Nobody messes with me. Because everybody knows me, and I know everybody. I know how to track down anyone and everyone, and I have every homeless kid recruited. If you destroy one of us, _we destroy you."_

Marcus raised one eyebrow, and met Tobacco's stare. "_I_, for one, would say you have no idea what I'm capable of. You have no idea of what I can do; of what terrible and chaotic forces I can bring upon you and your street urchin "army," he said gravely, putting his fingers in the air for quotes around 'army.' "You have no idea what you're stepping into if you choose to bring you and your cohorts to fight me."

"Oh, I know very well what I'm doing," Tobacco smirked, and suddenly, Marcus got uneasy.

Tobacco stepped forward three more paces. He smiled menacingly, and whispered, "_You're dead."_ And with that, he leapt onto Marcus, tackling him and pinning him to the ground.

Marcus' instincts, although robotic, kicked in. His hand, the robotic hand, flew up and scraped Tobacco in the mouth, leaving blood dripping all over his chin.

Tobacco felt his lip, recoiled at the blood coming out, and snarled, "You'll pay for that."

Marcus laughed. "Cliché," he said, and then thought, _I have not much of a life left to live, so if I die here, my only regret will be that I never made amends._

_Amends._

He looked over at Adam, Bree, and Chase, who were asleep. He could take Tobacco; he didn't need to wake them up. Because if he did, they'd just side with Tobacco and kill him.

So he let them sleep.

Tobacco took Marcus' distraction towards the lab rats, or, as Tobacco saw it, a bunch of crates in the dark corner of the room, as an advantage, and struck again, landing a powerful uppercut.

To his credit, Marcus didn't stumble back, but instead super-sped behind Tobacco, lifted him up by the scruff, and threw him across the room. And knowing he wasn't bionic, he wouldn't take the fall well like Adam or Chase had.

And then he heard a clapping sound. And then a rough-sounding voice. _"You remembered your training well."_

* * *

Douglas had known what Marcus was going to do. He was so predictable—he had known that Marcus hadn't pulled his full strength to fight Adam, Bree, and Chase. He could have wiped out Adam with his super-strength, but all he did was throw Adam six feet to the ground. Sure, Adam had hit the ground hard, but he was bionic, what did Marcus expect? He had recovered quickly enough to uncover his new ability—which Douglas also knew about. He had known everything the whole time. All he had to do was wait Marcus out.

What Douglas couldn't figure out was what Marcus had had against him. Douglas knew he had raised Marcus a _little_ roughly, but it was all completely necessary to the final upcoming battle. And it wouldn't wear Marcus down too much. Besides, he'd just burn out on his sixteenth birthday, so no harm done, right?

So what kind of grudge did he hold against Douglas that made him want to actually _befriend_ Adam, Bree, and Chase?

* * *

Bree was slowly waking up from her unconsciousness after she had fainted, remembering immediately as she woke up what had happened*.

Why didn't Marcus just kill her to blackmail Adam and Chase into coming with him if he wanted all three of them so badly?

After Bree had regained consciousness, she just sat in the dark, blinking. There was something she felt in her eye—but it wasn't tangible to the touch.

No, it was guilt. Deep, heavy sorrowful guilt.

She had failed her brothers. She had fainted on them, she had let Marcus speed over and grab her, and then dragged them into Marcus' trap, which was really all he wanted in the beginning, all because she couldn't fight for herself and dodge Marcus in time.

She had been awake for more than an hour, and had heard Marcus rustling around. What could he be doing in the morning at this time? She checked her chip "built-in" watch signal—3:43.

_He's a stupid android,_ Bree thought bitterly. _Of course he doesn't need to wake up. Does he even wake up on his own or does Douglas just program him to wake up at certain times? No robot could be _that _anthropic. _

_I bet he's gloating about how he's caught us—finally—without Douglas "help."_

"Well, go on, Marcus, brag about it. You've got us. I'm too weak to fight back." She whispered, under her breath. It felt good to complain once in a while. Being bionic meant she couldn't complain about anything… much.

_I just hope that Chase and Adam have a plan to get us out of here,_ she had silently in her head before falling back asleep.

* * *

Adam was snoring loudly, because, no matter how bad the situation, he could always find time for sleep. After all, tomorrow _was_ a school day, so… 9:45 bedtime!

* * *

Chase hadn't really fallen asleep—he had always been a light sleeper ever since he'd started sleeping in his capsules. All of that noise that came in through the glass… his bionic super-sensitive hearing couldn't take it. And it all transferred to his brain, where he'd started having nightmares, and he'd always wake up crying for Bree, Adam, and Donald, in that order. What had made Bree be the first one he'd want to call?

Because she'd always comforted him before. There was something about her looking at her little brother, knowing that he wasn't so perfect, that gave her a sense of being an older sister, wanting to _protect_ him, and shelter him from the world as best as she possibly could.

And she had done an excellent job of it.

He had a sudden sense, more like an _urge,_ that he had to protect his siblings. He had to help them stay out of harm's way. Donald had put him in charge as Mission Leader. Donald had trusted him to help his siblings stay of harm's way with his incredible brain. Maybe he had been overestimated. All in all, Chase was a cocky, brilliant, but anxious teen. He couldn't handle the burden of taking care of his _older_ siblings all the _time,_ could he? That was ridiculous! But if Donald had faith in him that he could do, then he would. For his family.

Chase was staring up at that little insignificant fly on the ceiling, thinking about how he had to get out of here. He had a lot of things planned out for a great escape, mapping out the warehouse with his bionic memory databank, but what his incredibly smart psychological powers couldn't figure out was why Marcus even wanted to bring Adam, Bree, and him _alive_ to this dump. What could he want with them?

The only rational thing that Marcus could do with them was hold them as ransom for money from Donald, but Marcus would eke out a terrible life, even with money, because he'd burn out in three months.

So that wasn't really it.

Chase's brain was churning out several reasons for holding them captive and rejecting them. _Why couldn't he think of something?_

Little did Chase know that the real reason was one he'd never guess.

* * *

"Douglas." Marcus stated, or rather spat out.

"Marcus," Douglas replied just as coldly.

Marcus thought how cheesy an action show this scene would make. Two people would confront each other and then the inevitable, cliché line would turn up—"What do you want?"

"What do you want?" he said, slightly smirking.

Douglas was caught slightly off guard by the sneering. _Why?_

"Or rather, _why do you want me?"_

Marcus had mixed thoughts about Douglas. He had grown up with Douglas, trusted him, no matter how much Douglas abused Marcus, and then just to see him leave him behind as the rocks caved in the underground lab. He had been raised by Douglas to become an ultimate warrior, and Marcus had _enjoyed_ the feeling of power. It was wonderful. But was having _Douglas_ be his guarding really worth it?

Of course. Power was worth everything, in Marcus' mind. So he had endured the years of hard training, sweat, blood, and—well, not tears, but something the sparked an emotion of sadness in the android's brain.

Douglas responded just as coolly, "I heard you took Adam, Bree, and Chase captive."

Marcus responded levelly, "Who told you that?" _Another reason this relates to a cheesy action show._

"I heard it from a little birdie on the streets," Douglas smiled condescendingly. "You just don't understand, do you? I'm always one step ahead of you." He gestured to Tobacco lying unconscious on the ground and shook his head. "The way I'd raised you, well, you would've thought that you'd have known better than to question my methods."

* * *

**Ooh! Not a cliffhanger, but definitely mysterious foreshadowing, yes? Remember, these chapters are much shorter than Clandestine Covers, which is on a minor hiatus... so remember that! I don't honestly know when the next update will be. So. That being said... I'll see you all around when I update again! Or maybe I'll post a new story. I've got all these ideas floating around my head (profile) and I want to get some of 'em down... sorry for ranting... I'll do it to daphrose in a PM instead. Bye now!**

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**(I apologize for any spelling/grammatical errors.)**


	13. Dramatic Moment

**Hey, y'all! Back with another chapter before I move and lost all Internet Connection... and maybe I'll even update tomorrow if I push myself to finish Ch. 14, as well! So read my profile for Moving Updates... and enjoy the chapter!  
**

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Disclaimer: I do not own Lab Rats.

* * *

_"__I heard it from a little birdie on the streets," Douglas smiled condescendingly. "You just don't understand, do you? I'm always one step ahead of you." He gestured to Tobacco lying unconscious on the ground and shook his head. "The way I'd raised you, well, you would've thought that you'd have known better than to question my methods."_

"I do," Marcus said coldly. "I'm not like you. I've learned I've got a life to live. You have _nothing_ left," he spat.

"Oh, Marcus, my boy, you've got everything wrong. I've got _you._ I have everything to live for. You won't be alive in three months. I could live for so much longer. I made you so you wouldn't outlive me." He smiled menacingly.

"You _used_ me," Marcus said without batting an eyelash. "Yes, Marcus, when would you have come to that conclusion, pray tell?"

"You'll be telling me out of the other side of your mouth when you learn I've _changed._"

"Ooh!" Douglas waved his hands around in the air. "That's so scary!"

Marcus raised an eyebrow. "Well, _Porcupine Tips,_" he said tauntingly, "If you're going to bring me back under your control, you may as well tell me your plan this time. It's not like I'm going anywhere. I'm alone."

"You captured Adam, Bree, and Chase," Douglas mused.

"Did I really?"

"Yes, you did."

"Did I?"

"Yes, you did."

"Did—"

"Marcus, they're right there. Give up the act." He motioned towards the boxes where the three Davenports were resting.

"Fine," Marcus scowled, settling down on a brick tower. "So how'd you come into contact with Tobacco?"

"I may as well tell you," Douglas sighed. "Here's what happened."

* * *

_"I left the underground lab—"_

* * *

"You left the underground lair and left me behind."

"I'm the one telling this story!"

* * *

_I left the underground lab as the rocks began caving in and began wandering the streets. I had another hideout a couple of miles away, and I wanted to review what I was going to do if I ran into Donald, the trio, or you ever again. I was just about ready reach the house, a block away, when four kids mugged me. One had spiky purple hair, one was tough and chewing Tobacco, one had a face that strongly resembled a rat, and one of them was fat and beefy._

* * *

"I've met them—"

"Would it kill you to listen to the story!?"

* * *

_"—__And one of them was fat and beefy. They were about ready to attack me when I pulled out a remote._

_One of them sneered, 'Ooh, a fancy remote with lots of buttons is supposed to scare us?' I assume it was the one in the middle, facing me off—the one chewing Tobacco._

_He smiled, his brass knuckles glinting in the moonlight like freshly polished counter-tops in a modern kitchen—"_

* * *

"What kind of simile use is that?"

"Would you rather I say it was like the diamonds Pätra (a.k.a. Katy Perry) wore in her teeth like a grill in the music video Dark Horse*?"

* * *

_He smiled, his brass knuckles glinting in the moonlight like freshly polished counter-tops in a modern kitchen, and I pressed the remote._

_A silver piece of metal that looked seemingly innocent turned into a hidden robot—yes, similar to the one that you __**destroyed**__ when you let the little snitch Leo into our lab by accident—and towered over the punks._

_They were horrified. They actually dropped to their knees and began begging that they'd do anything if I wouldn't kill them with the robot. They began stating their 'credentials' about how they were well-known and everyone (except me) gave up their money without a second thought out of fear, and how they could track down anyone that had wronged me, anyone that had done something I would rightfully avenge myself for, anyone that had committed a crime against me and I would swear cold vengeance on them—"_

* * *

"Me."

"You ruined the dramatic moment!"

* * *

_"—__Anyone that had committed a crime against me and I would swear cold vengeance on them, and I stated who I wanted them to track down._

_You._

_And so they set about looking for you. The one with the purple streaks in his hair had mentioned they'd seen a kid with brown eyebrows, tall, brown hair, with electric green that glowed and brown eyes that didn't glow, and stated where they'd found you._

_Eventually, they began following you after they picked up your 'scent.' Finally, when you'd kidnapped Adam, Bree, and Chase, Tobacco made his move and attacked you. You beat him up, which should result in temporary memory loss. It was my intentional plan all along. He can't know about me. No one can. And no one will after I erase Donald's kids and after you die._

_As for Donald? He won't be around to find out._

* * *

"So…" Marcus said. "You want to basically kill me off and erase the Davenport's memories."

"Yes," Douglas said. "But it sounds less impressive if you say it in just those same twelve words."

Marcus rolled his eyes. "Not the diabolical maniac I knew as a fatherly figure." He waited and corrected himself. "Not the diabolical maniac I knew."

"What, you don't consider me a fatherly figure?" Douglas said, not really offended. "I take offense."

"Sure you do," Marcus said sarcastically. "A great fatherly figure, considering you want to kill me off."

"Look son—_Marcus_, you're not _real._ You're just a robot," Douglas tried to explain, ignoring Marcus' wince at the statement 'You're just a robot.' "You don't have feelings. You won't care whether you live or die. It's not like you're going to _feel_ the pain when I end you. Again, I reiterate—you're a _robot._ You don't feel pain or anything. Once you die, you will feel nothing but bliss."

"Think of it this way," Douglas said. "You're going to die anyways soon. Why wait if you know you have a failed life already? You may as well get it out and over with if you accept fate and lose hope. Being sympathetic, I will end it early and the shadow of your death will disappear, like _you._"

Marcus had been silent for Douglas' soliloquy, but enough was enough.

_"__No," _Marcus yelled sharply, jumping up. "You're wrong. You're wrong about everything. Unlike you, I see the good in this world. Unlike you, I know what family means. Unlike you, I know everything that I've been missing out on. When I looked up to you because you were the only human I knew, I was a stupid, idiotic fool. I could've made friends with Adam, Bree, and Chase—_true_ friends, don't say I already was—and I could've looked up to Donald Davenport, a much better model, no matter how inflated his ego is—but I wasted my life on you! I wasted it all on you! And now my life it's over. There's nothing left for me. So maybe I accept death. But I will _not_ accept a death accepting being a heartless, emotionless robot. Because I'm not. I will _never_ be like you." Electricity, blue and sparking, crackled from both his fingertips, and sprung out at Douglas, catching him in a blue web of plasma energy.

Douglas began writhing in agony, trapped in the orb, and struggled to breathe. "All those years I spent caring for you, all those years I took care of your metal body parts, and this is what I get?"

Marcus didn't answer, but threw a shock orb at Douglas and Douglas yelled in pain. When his cries finally decreased, Marcus said unsympathetically, "This is what you get for all of the years of suffering that I had to go through."

"Ah, but son," Douglas said, smirking even through his pain. "Perhaps you've forgotten one thing."

He reached, surprisingly able to, into his pocket, and pulled out a silver circuit board.

_No._

_It can't be._

_I destroyed that a decade ago._

_How did he build it again?_

_No. _

With a sound close to a wail, Marcus released Douglas from his trap and said one word. "_How!?"_

* * *

**So! How did you like it? Cliffie! Who doesn't love 'em? I DO NOT SUFFER FROM PPWI THIS TIME! And if you've read Fast Food Frenzy (if you haven't, please do - written by _moi_) you'd get it... MAYBE. But again, if I get lots of reviews, I hope I get to update tomorrow! As you've noticed, Clandestine Covers is on hiatus... so, um, sorry about that. The next chapter will be up by mid-September or so... _maybe._ Don't count on it. *Makes force field before angry crowd pitchforks me to death* See y'all around for another chapter!**

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**Footnote No. 1: This is an actual reference to Dark Horse (Music Video). If you go go to the official video and catch 1:28 exactly, you will see Pätra (Katy Perry) grin with diamonds on her teeth like a grill. They sparkle comically.  
**

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**(I apologize for any spelling/grammatical errors.)**


	14. Lies of Solace

**Hey, y'all! So sorry I didn't post when I said I hoped I would (the day right after I posted Ch. 13) but I was so busy yesterday moving, but I'm posting now, aren't I? R&amp;R and enjoy! (Wow, my A/Ns have really shortened by now. O.o)  
**

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Disclaimer: I do not own Lab Rats.

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_"__Ah, but son," Douglas said, smirking even through his pain. "Perhaps you've forgotten one thing."_

_He reached, surprisingly able to, into his pocket, and pulled out a silver circuit board._

_No._

_It can't be._

_I destroyed that a decade ago._

_How did he build it again?_

_No. _

_With a sound close to a wail, Marcus released Douglas from his trap and said one word. "How!?"_

"You thought you'd destroyed it years ago, didn't you?" Douglas smirked. Marcus, paralyzed with fear, could only nod. "I made sure it was gone for good."

"To repeat, Marcus—you must always remember creators are one step ahead of their creations.* And to think I thought you a well-built android. Had I raised you for nothing? Perhaps I had."

Marcus failed to create a force field in time to deflect Douglas' attack, and soon, Douglas seized Marcus, short-circuiting his wires that commanded his movement, and Marcus was paralyzed—not just with fear, but also physically. And how had he done it? With his silver circuit board, of course.

It was a mainframe remote control to Marcus' body—any attempt Marcus tried to make, Douglas could electrocute him. Although Marcus couldn't exactly feel pain, he had built-in sensors to make him seem more realistic so he could feel the _idea_ of pain.

It was similar to the Triton App, but much more powerful. Even Marcus' thoughts in the very back of his head wouldn't stay _his,_ but his entire body would be taken over. The even worse thing was, after Marcus was returned to his own self, his memories could be distorted. That was the only word for it.

When Marcus was only five, he had his memories distorted and what the result of his fourth training with a cyborg… it gave him nightmares to think about it.

"But when I destroyed it with the lasers—it was completely destroyed! It vanished. There was nothing left!" Marcus said indignantly. What was wrong with him? But—

"Maybe you forget that I am your creator—"

"—You never _let_ me forget—"

"—But I knew you were so predictable, and you would try to destroy it. If Donald hadn't taken Adam, Bree, and Chase away, the first thing that they would have tried to do was to rid the Triton App—in this case, the human version of the circuit board—from their system. So I always have backup copies—there's a whole storage room full of them—so don't try anything funny. I have four more at the hideout—and a ton more where you'll never find them."

All was hopeless. The circuit board was back; Marcus couldn't do anything about it; and he would die having never accomplished _anything _in life. _Ever._

The only solace in this was that he had stood up for himself. Finally. Fifteen-and-a-half years overdue, but he had stood up for himself. Maybe he could have his dying words make in impact on Douglas.

_Psh. You know it's not going to do anything._

_But it would be nice to try, wouldn't it?_

"So once you kill me off…" Marcus stalled, trying to think of some good last words.

"Once you're gone for good, I'll activate Adam, Bree, and Chase's Triton App and Donald—what I'll do to him you won't find out."

"Evil people need to come up with better lines than 'You won't be around to find out' and 'Once you're gone for good, I'll do this or that.' "

"Well, it's not like good guys get any good lines, either! They say stuff like 'You won't get away with it!' and 'My sole duty is to protect the citizens of Central City!"

"Well, still—it gets old!

"Suit yourself! Make up your own evil catchphrase. Just don't take 'You've fallen right into my trap.' That's mine—and don't you get me distracted! If you don't fight me, I will _reward_ you with a slow and painful death.

"That's your idea of a reward, huh?" Marcus smiled. A little dry humor to laugh at in the last minutes of his life.

"Come here," Douglas said. Marcus hung back. After all he'd been through, he may as well have accepted death. But now, in the peak of his lifetime, he didn't _want_ to die… was it so wrong to want to _live,_ to be _free?_ Life was so rich. And it had all gone to waste.

Douglas' finger slammed down on the circuit board, and Marcus slowly began walking towards Douglas, his subconscious mind entirely disappearing into the deep folds of his brain.

Before Marcus could be entirely taken over, he let loose his last words. "At least I die as innocent."

That certainly stopped Douglas right in his tracks. "What are you talking about? Wait—don't go into a speech. You aren't innocent in the least. You helped me kidnap Adam, Bree, and Chase, and turn them into bionic soldiers; you helped imprison Donald; you _faked_ a friendship and were cruel and manipulative; you tried to kill Leo twice. Since when do you have a clean slate?"

"Since I began thinking about the positive moments of my life," Marcus retorted. "I was forcing the words out as I blackmailed Adam, Bree, and Chase; I thought they might actually be friends with me; I actually do admire Donald and I wholeheartedly feel contrite about trapping him; I paused when the remote dropped off of the catwalk—and I know you noticed—because I could have ended it all right then and there. But did I? No, I didn't."

"Bravo. You should work for the government. Now. Come here. There's nobody left; maybe you are innocent, maybe you aren't; but you'll be a lot happier once you're gone, won't you?"

_I never knew what it was like to live. I never will. This is the world, isn't it?_

"Lies," Marcus said. "What you say are all lies."

Douglas raised an eyebrow, and said, "I'm glad you finally figured that out," and he pushed the detonating button the circuit board.

Marcus could feel his wires slowly sparking and losing fuel, and it felt like a heavy sleep. He began to see Death at the end of this long, long road to die, welcoming him like an old friend. _I've been waiting to see you._

_Why not? I am what you embrace at the end of every long life-span. Your time has come, Marcus, and you should hug it. Be grateful you die now; life would have gotten much worse with you alive._

Marcus felt himself drifting farther and farther away from reality, and he came closer to the indescribable figure of Death, marveling, _So this is what it's like to die._

He could hear Douglas faintly chuckling in the background, but he paid no mind to it, knowing what Douglas had said were all lies, and accepting the truth. _Dying is peaceful. What was I so afraid of? Dying is something that I should want no matter how much life will resist death. _

And just before he collapsed on the brink of being alive into Death's waiting arms; just before the poisonous arrow of dying was shot into Marcus' soul; just before the finality of his short sixteen-year life that was cut short by three months—

There was a cry, and a wail of pain, and the sound of someone hitting the ground like a bucket clattering into a bathtub, and Douglas' chuckling was gone.

"Marcus!" Marcus heard a voice, and it lifted him away from the path of death, and it let him go. _Perhaps it is not your time yet, little one. Go, and come back when you are ready._ Death lifted its heavy, embracing arms, and Marcus was spun back into the real world.

And his eyes flew open, taking in the colorful, wonderful scene of life, no matter how evil life could be.

"Chase?" He said weakly.

"Marcus," Chase replied. "What did Douglas do to you?"

"Circuit board," was all Marcus could utter before wanting to close his eyes, just drift back into dreamland…

"What circuit board? Marcus, stay with me!"

"I thought—I thought… you _hated_ me…" Marcus was exhausted by a simple sentence. Why did Chase have to let him live? Why couldn't he have died?

Chase spied a silver circuit board in Douglas' coat pocket and whipped it out. Marcus could almost see the genius' eyes working, trying to figure out the code of the board, and his fingers flew over the interconnecting wires. "I do," Chase said without batting an eyelash. "You can care for someone without liking his or her actions," he added.

"You saved me," was all Marcus said.

"Not me," Chase said. "I was the one who called your name. And I'm going to be the one to fix you and let you live. But I'm just one little gear in the whole cog. Bree was the one who woke up when she heard Tobacco creep in and alert Adam and I awake; she was the one to analyze the situation quickly enough while Adam was groggy and I was trying to think about why you would have wanted to kidnap us—"

"What!"

"—Nothing," Chase finished hastily. "And Adam was the one who knocked out Douglas with a blast-wave. It was all of us who saved you, because we weren't going to let you die a second time."

"But—you tried to kill me when I ran into you in the street," Marcus said, trying to fathom what had just happened in the last five minutes.

"I know, and it was bad to do so." Chase answered. He didn't elaborate.

* * *

Bree was watching Marcus from the shadows. He was so tired, she noticed, and it looked liked he just wanted to fall asleep again. How _could_ he sleep after all that had just happened? She shook her head. _I will never understand boys._

And she had hit upon the conclusion of why Marcus had kidnapped them just as she had heard Tobacco tip-toeing into the warehouse. _He's lonely._

_He needs someone to be with him in the last weeks of his android life._

_He was designed to be a human._

_Humans hate isolation._

_Ergo, he hates isolation._

She watched Chase try and fix Marcus with the circuit board, and waited to hear what the verdict was.

"Marcus—I have good news and bad news. What do you want to hear first?"

"I want to go to sleep," answered Marcus.

"Good news it is, then," Chase went on cheerfully. "Douglas is knocked out and will be placed in jail as soon as we get out of here so the government doesn't discover our bionics.*"

"Bad news…?" Mumbled Marcus.

Chase's smile disappeared. _He's probably just as happy that Douglas is gone for now,_ Bree noticed.

"Marcus—how do I say this gently? I—I… I'm afraid that I can't fix your circuit board."

_I can't fix you._

_I can't fix you._

_I can't fix you._

_I'm going to die again._

* * *

**What's going to happen? Oh, I know! But you don't! Review to find out next! (Geez, I sound like a commercial.)  
**

**So, one more thing: please read my profile for news on my situation of moving; I won't be around much. Anyways, bye for now, and I'll try to update soon! Please review, review, review!  
**

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**Footnote No. 1: Please read the footnotes of Ch. 1.  
**

**Footnote No. 2: This is an AU now apparently. I want to get it clear that this is set straight after Bionic Showdown. _Krane is not in existence and the Davenports haven't exposed their bionics yet. And Douglas isn't semi-good, but you already deduced that._ Got it? Good.**

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**(I apologize for any spelling/grammatical errors.)**


	15. Life's Too Short

**Hey, y'all! Enjoy this chapter, because there won't be that many more! The end is coming soon... both for the story and the contents of the story... and if you ask what that means, be left in the dark, because I want that to be as cryptic as it sounds. And no, the story and the _contents_ of the story is not the same! One more thing: the bottom A/N is relatively mandatory to read, so read it! Anyways, enjoy, and R&amp;R, please!  
**

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Disclaimer: I do not own Lab Rats.

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_"__Marcus—how do I say this gently? I—I… I'm afraid that I can't fix your circuit board."_

**_I can't fix you._**

**_I can't fix you._**

**_I can't fix you._**

**_I'm going to die again._**

"You… can't—fix me." Marcus eked out. He said it slowly and rolled it around his mouth like a cough drop. "You can't fix me."

Chase had a heavy look in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Marcus, really, I am. But there's nothing I can do. You're damaged beyond repair."

_He honestly wants to save me._

_Why would he want to save me? I'm the one who almost killed him. Twice! Or is it thrice? I've attempted to murder him so many times. And he repays me by trying to fix me._

Bree came closer to Marcus. She had heard everything. "Marcus…" she whispered. "I'm so sorry."

"You shouldn't be, cupcake," Marcus answered, smirking inside as he used Bree's hated nickname that he'd given her back at the bionic showdown.

Bree didn't even object. "Why not?"

Marcus laughed, a long, harsh, laugh. "All I did to you."

"To be honest, I don't really still like you. But I don't think you deserve to die."

He raised his eyebrow. "Okay…" Bree said unsure. "So it will make life easier knowing you're not out there—"

"Gee, thanks, that's reassuring," he remarked sarcastically.

"You asked! And let me finish: it'll make life easier knowing you're not out there, because, again, to be honest, you're a little unsteady. First you act vulnerable, then you act all tough and evil again, and then you kidnap us by threatening by brothers that they'll never see me again alive if they didn't come with you. And now you're dying and breaking down, and I see the _real_ you, and I'm not sure whether I want to like you or not."

"Fair enough," Marcus commented. "I think I'm unsteady as well."

"Do you?" Bree questioned.

Marcus laughed again, raspy; laced with Death's cloak. "I know so."

Chase looked at Marcus the way he would at a dog that had been run over but was still writhing in agony—half pity, half disgust. "Marcus—I'm sorry—"

"Don't be," Marcus spat. "I don't need pity. Life isn't good; life isn't bad. Life has chosen to be bad to me, and I accept that. Life is life. Tumbling, turmoil. It's never fair, is it? So if I die this early, it's not your fault."

Chase drew back, surprised at Marcus' sudden bitterness towards life. "But life has been good to you," Marcus continued. "You have abilities, abilities that were my life, but _your_ life is so much longer; you're human… you don't have to spend every second of your life training and fighting to be the ultimate destroyer. You went to school. You had friends."

He paused.

"Bree had friends."

"_Hey!"_

"And you were able to glimpse a normal life. I will never be normal. To you, I'll always be the freaky over-dramatic* robot whose sole mission was to destroy you."

"Marcus…" Bree trailed off. "We're sorry you didn't get a normal life."

"Don't be," he spat once again. "Life will be life."

"Yadda yadda yadda, when are you going to die?" Adam interrupted the moment.

Chase glared at him.

"So… do you, um, want to be alone in your final minutes?"

"I suppose," Marcus murmured quietly. He felt himself powering down. He was ready to die again.

Adam and Chase exited quickly, glad to get away from the android, as the tension was thick enough to cut with a paring knife, while Bree lingered in the doorway.

"Marcus…" she wasn't sure how to express her feelings. She knew apologizing would do no good. She sure was failing at consoling the dying android.

"What, cupcake?" Marcus asked with his eyes closed. Images swam beneath his eyelids. Images of burning out. Images of Douglas yelling at him. Images of being so tired he felt like he could drop down and die on the spot.

Bree's tongue wouldn't work. _Why do I feel so sorry for him? He almost killed Chase and held a knife to my throat._

"Aren't you afraid of anything?" She managed to say. _Pathetic._

"Bree, if you knew what I think of, you wouldn't sleep at night."

"Yes, I would. I've saved the world so many times and I've been so close to death so many times. What makes you think I can't hear what you say?"

"Bree, it's not that easy. Intense thoughts are intense. They get even more intense when you die."

Bree calmed down and sat next to Marcus an two crates stacked on top of each other. "Do you really think that Chase won't save you?"

"He can't," Marcus said stolidly. "Smartest genius human on the earth says he can't save me; he isn't telling a lie."

"But you can't stop believing!" Bree protested.

"Oh, yes, I can, princess. I stopped believing the second Tobacco burst in."

Bree lapsed into silence. She knew she had so many things she wanted to talk about with Marcus; the funny thing was, she didn't _know_ what she wanted to say. She just knew there were words waiting in her head, waiting to burst out.

"It's not easy, you know," Marcus finally divulged to Bree.

Bree was startled. "What?"

"It's not easy knowing you're going off the face of the earth without _ever_ waking up again. Life is too short to enjoy it. Yes, they say these days it's unhealthy to worry about death because then you'll be thinking about death lurking behind every corner every day, ever hour, every minute, and every second. Worrying is a dangerous mental drug. Once you start, you can't stop. Wouldn't you think I would know these things?"

"I don't doubt you," Bree replied. _Worrying is a dangerous mental drug._ "But isn't worrying slightly healthy?"

"Small amounts, like prescription," Marcus answered. "And then you get addicted. Someone could kill you any moment. Someone could lose control of their car and kill you any moment. Someone could drop something from up above. You could be murdered in your sleep. You could die of a medical condition with no known cure. There is so much to be afraid of in this world."

"And it ends for me soon. And I can stop being afraid. Because, really, death is just the beginning. Death is the end. It is both. Death ends all things and shows a new beginning each time a person dies. When I die, 99.99% of the population of Earth will go on without me, never knowing what I could've done to this world, good or bad. When you die, life goes on without you."

"And what happens when the world ends? Life ceases to exist. But when the world ends, the world ends. It's like death. You'll never know what it's like because nobody from the dead has ever come back."

After his long soliloquy, Marcus fell silent once more, his chest going up and down in fake breaths that Douglas had programmed into him.

"But aren't their religions that claim there is life after death?"

"Cupcake, religions can say many things. Let them believe what they believe. I don't challenge anything; I don't believe fiercely in anything. I believe that death will be death, and it will always be death, and it will be the end to a life. That is final."*

There was a moment of awkward silence before Marcus mentioned, still with his eyes closed, "I would feel more comfortable if you didn't stare at me like I'm a run-over dog like Chase did."

Bree moved back, once again startled by his perspicacious attitude, and said, "I should leave," rather quietly. And she inched away, thinking the whole time of the philosophy that had just been delivered to her.

* * *

Chase was fingering the silver circuit board that Douglas had used to control Marcus to the utter complete maximum, and his gloves protected him from the sparking wires. Tinkering with it, he looked at every inch of it, and then searched his database for circuit board wire-works.

After a long time, perhaps an hour, perhaps ten hours, perhaps in the middle between one and ten, Bree and Adam finished watching him, about to leave, Chase called, "_Wait."_

"What?" Adam said curiously. "Did you find a way to turn that thing into a hot dog?"

"_No,_" Chase said, rolling his eyes. "And don't even _think_ about saying you could go for a hot dog right now."

"I wasn't," Adam said clearly hurt, although it was quite obvious he was about to blurt it out.

Adam gave Chase the puppy dog treatment until the youngest bionic relented and handed Adam a five-dollar bill. "Get yourself a Jumbo and lemonade to cheer yourself up," and as Adam cheered and ran off, Chase muttered to himself, "The things I do to keep us happy."

"So… Chase, what were you going to say?" Bree asked tentatively.

"There's a way to fix Marcus' chip."

* * *

Tobacco awoke quickly and remembered on the spot what had happened—a spiky porcupine-haired dude had confronted him with a gigantic robot and in exchange for sparing him and his gang's lives, he would do something for the man, whom he later knew as "Douglas."

So he had tracked down the robotic kid he had fought earlier with Streaks, Ratty, and Meaty's help, and attacked him. Knocked out, humiliated, reputation ruined; he would get revenge on the kid.

And things seemed to be going just right that day. The kid… he had those weird green and brown eyes… _I'll call you Grewn-Eyes.*_

Grewn-Eyes was right in front of him, lying, seemingly asleep, on the ground. _I wonder what happened while I was out._

He slowly stalked towards Marcus, and just as he was a few inches away, burning red lasers scorched the ground right in front of him.

"Don't you touch him," said a menacing voice.

For the second time in a week, Marcus looked up to his savior, and smiled.

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**You like the cliffhanger? I'm sure you _love_ it! But this time you can probably guess who the 2nd savior is. And... I don't normally answer reviews... but RissA15... you and the fangirl army are in for a big surprise! All I'm going to say! Now... this story is coming to a close. Three or four more chapters left! Are you ready to begin the countdown? Well... you can begin the countdown if you _review!_ So review, people, review! **

**Another note I'd like to make is that Clandestine Covers _is_ on a hiatus which will be ended until this story is over, because I don't like to work on more than two multi-chapter fics at once... but I don't mind on-the-spot one-shots, so expect those! I have a bunch planned out. _Be prepared for those!_ And Heart of Stone Ch. 2 is underway! Again, please please review, and start the countdown!**

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**Footnote No. 1: That's from daphrose, of course; it's what she calls him in I'm A Monster... which of course you all have read, yes?**

**Footnote No: 2: I do not mean to offend anyone who believes in a religion that believes there is life after death. Please do not flame and respect my opinions on how I chose for Marcus to see the world. Thank you!**

**Footnote No. 3: Combination of green and brown and eyes. I don't think I need to explain, but I'll put this footnote here in case anybody got confused.**

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****(I apologize for any spelling/grammatical errors.)****


	16. Advantage

**Hey, y'all! So... two more chapters left after this one; so enjoy it while it lasts! Sad to say, I won't be on as much anymore because college is starting up (again) and things are going to get a lot more busy. Don't expect too many updates after August 25... but hopefully there will be some. Also to authors I am PMing; I won't be able to get on in the morning anymore so much... Anyways, enough negative stuff! The fangirl army will _not_ be pleased with this chapter. I think. I _know._ So... *dives into bomb shelter* Enjoy the chapter and please review when you're done!  
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Disclaimer: I do not own Lab Rats.

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_He slowly stalked towards Marcus, and just as he was a few inches away, burning red lasers scorched the ground right in front of him._

_"__Don't you touch him," said a menacing voice._

_For the second time in a week, Marcus looked up to his savior, and smiled. _

"Adam," Marcus said, surprised. _Adam was the one who had caused the chain reactions that sent me to my almost-death, and here he is, saving me._

_But isn't he the dumb one?_

_Perhaps he understands more than he lets on, but he can't talk it out in an intelligent way…_

"You didn't really think I'd let you die _that_ way, did you?" Adam said, not smiling, but definitely teasingly. _He cares about me._ Adam stared down Tobacco. "What'd you come here for?"

"I'm here to kill that kid," Tobacco snarled. "Step out of the way."

"Well, I happen to _know_ that kid," Adam said.

Marcus found himself holding his breath. What was Adam going to say? Even if Adam had saved Marcus from a lowly death from an unmanly position to die, was Adam just going to give in and let Tobacco rip him up…?

"—And he's my cousin," Adam finished. "So don't you lay a hand on him!"

Marcus smiled again. _Cousin,_ he thought. _Such a foreign but welcome, sweet, word._

"Then I'll deal with both of you!" Tobacco growled.

_If only you knew what you were dealing with._

"Just remember I have no grudge against you except trying to kill _him,_" Adam pointed out. "So I won't hurt you _too_ badly."

"Oh, no," Tobacco laughed. "You mess with me and intervene with who I want to end, you end, too. This is to the very death, boy," (even though Adam was at least a head taller than him,) "And only one of us leaves this warehouse alive.

Although Tobacco wouldn't have known it, he would have cursed doing that. Now that Adam knew he had to kill Tobacco, he could use his bionics freely instead of holding back lest Tobacco escape the ring alive and let the secret leak out.

"You have made a big, big mistake," Adam said, trying not to smile. "This is a huge advantage you're giving to me."

_Adam knows the word advantage?_ Marcus wondered briefly.

"Adam knows the word advantage?" Chase voiced his thoughts to Bree, as he stood leaning calmly against the doorway to the warehouse. "Then that means its serious showdown time." He and Bree stood beside Adam, and so many thoughts flashed through Marcus' head, not stopping to take turns.

_Adam stood up for me._

_Chase joined in with Adam, and he tried to save me._

_Bree listened and heard me out on my thoughts._

_Adam indirectly almost killed me._

_Chase punched me in the stomach with his levitation ability._

_Bree kicked me in the back as I flipped up in the air and landed, hard._

_Adam will fight for me._

_Bree will fight for me._

_Chase will fight for me._

_Adam, Bree, and Chase. My cousins._

"I know a good advantage when I see one," Marcus said, standing up as well.

Chase glanced over at him. "You shouldn't stand up! I need you out of the way!"

_But you can't fix me. I may as well fight to the death if it means you continue your human lives. Once again, to repeat an astounding number of times, I have nothing left to live for._

"I'm fighting," Marcus replied, sounding deadly like he had used to before the bionic showdown, and Chase finally nodded.

"You don't need to show your approval," Marcus chuckled, and added, "It's my decision."' Without further warning, he sped up, _painfully,_ to Tobacco, and whipped him into the crates nestled in the back. Not being bionic, he would take the pain fully.

"You forgot I have _connections,_" Tobacco sneered, and dozens of silhouettes appeared behind him.

"You forgot we're special," Chase said, smiling knowingly.

"You're not special," Tobacco scoffed. "The robotic freak is the special one. You're ordinary street kids." He clenched his fists as he wriggled around the box where Marcus was resting.

_They're not wearing those mission suit thingies. Ah…_

"Oh, yeah?" Chase said threateningly. Moving his arms in a wide circular motion, a plasma ball rested on his palms. "How'd you like to be on the end of this baby?" He threw it at Tobacco, almost standing up, like the force field ball was a bowling ball and Tobacco was the last pin between Chase and a strike.

_Bull's eye._ Tobacco was struck with the full incoming force and fell down again, but he didn't stay down for long. He waved his arm forward, and soon, the outlined people rushed into the room and began attacking.

Bree took the first incoming wave, about a dozen boys, all her age, and sped a vortex around them, surprising and confusing them, and took a dusty rope and wrapped them up. _I feel a sense of déjà vu.* All twelve down._

They were tightly tied up and deposited in the corner, watching the rest of their cohorts charge.

Chase took care of the next ones, in which there were six, and engaged in a long martial arts battle.

The first one to strike him was Ratty, of course. Ratty aimed a punch, but Chase blocked it. Thinking quickly, he lifted his left leg and struck at Ratty's stomach. Ratty doubled over and stumbled backward, but not before mirroring Chase's move back at him.

Chase moved out of the way almost just in time, but Ratty's leg clipped his side, causing him to heave.

Ratty leapt up again, and they soon began punching again. Chase finally flipped over backward, sprang up, and threw a force field ball at Ratty, causing him to fly across the warehouse and out the door. _One down._

_Boom, I did the first one without bionics!_

The next one was Meaty, who was definitely much bigger than him. _Time to use my molecular kinesis._

Chase used it to push Meaty back, and Meaty slid back, trying to resist it.

"I don't know what kind of witchcraft you're doing, but it won't work," Meaty rasped, and began trying to punch Chase.

Chase began somersaulting to dodge the kicks and blows and saw his chance. Using his molecular-kinesis, he motioned a steel beam above the huge doorway to fall, then he pushed it out the door to where Ratty was.

Then, using his magnetism app, he moved his hands together, propelling Meaty, who had an oversized metal belt, to the beam. Meaty was caught with the element of surprise, and slammed into the metal bar so hard he was knocked out. _Two down._

Four teens engaged Chase, who swung out his leg and moved it in a circular pattern, so they all knocked down, giving him a chance to activate his molecular kinesis and lift them all up in the air, cutting off the oxygen briefly, and then dropping them seven feet to the floor. _Six down._

He looked over at Adam who was sizing up the last few thugs. There were twenty-four… and all four of them would have to take care of them. Tobacco could wait. The majority came first.

"You ready?" Adam nodded, and Bree joined them. _Wait, where's Marcus?_

_No time. We have to knock them out!_

Twelve of them circled around in a formation, four surrounded each bionic teen. _Adam, I need to rely on your need to throw them around._

True to his nature, Adam grabbed all four of them with his super strength, and threw them out the door. "My aim's improved! Now all I have to master is to be able to throw Chase to the counter from the front door."

"Really? Now?"

Bree once again used her speed and attacked them in quick doses, then using her super agility to stick to the upper walls, and then attacked them again. Finally, they were knocked out after too many blows to the head (one complained after awaking that there was some attacker that couldn't be seen and was shortly kicked out for 'imagining things' as the other boys knew to keep their mouths shut).

But then, the other twelve plus a new wave of Tobacco's gang arrived.

"Adam, you're going to have to use your blast-wave."

"Finally!"

"But, Chase, isn't this warehouse a little unstable and rickety? It could cause the whole place to come crashing down."

"No, he's going to have to use it now."

Adam complied after Chase surrounded all three of them with his force field, and the rest of them were knocked out.

"Cue the canned cheering!" Adam shouted, and Bree cracked a smile, but Chase suddenly thought, _Tobacco. Marcus. Oh, no._

"Come on!" He yelled, grabbing his brother and sister, and raced behind the tall-stacked crates. _I knew they would deck it out here._

Marcus and Tobacco were circling each other, and soon Tobacco attacked Marcus, and they rolled around on the ground wrestling before Marcus used his last bionic ability he would ever use.

Lightning, the blue lightning that had saved his life so many times, leapt out of his fingers, eager to escape before burning out forever, and surrounded Tobacco in a bright cerulean cage. The electricity crackled and popped, and when it died down, Tobacco was suffering third-degree burns.

"Is he dead?" Bree asked cautiously.

"He will be," Marcus answered almost casually. "Most people don't survive that. At least, most non-bionic people."

"What about the others?" Bree continued.

"They'll be babbling about the bionic quartet," Marcus answered, smirking. "They'll get locked up in some mental insane asylum."

"Douglas?" Bree said, but was ignored as Marcus said something. _What about Douglas?_

"And now that I've eked out my final battle," _And now that I've made amends,_ he thought silently, "I can die."

"You look forward to it," Bree said.

"Princess, were you listening when I told you how I felt?"

Bree looked anywhere but Marcus' eyes. "Marcus, didn't Chase tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"He can fix you."

Marcus was shocked. "No, he can't. He said he couldn't."

"Maybe I can," Chase said. "But that's why I didn't want you to fight. You need to have a certain part of your circuit board to fix."

"But I need to check to be sure. Where's the board?"

"It was right… here." Marcus palmed the area desperately looking for it. _Maybe it's time for me to die after all if I can just find the damn circuit board!_

He froze. "What was Tobacco doing before we fought?"

_"__You're not special," Tobacco had scoffed. "The robotic freak is the special one. You're ordinary street kids." He clenched his fists as he wriggled around the box where Marcus was… __**had **__been resting, _Chase recalled.

"He took it," Chase said, astonished. "But how would he have known about that?"

"He couldn't have," Chase answered his own question.

All four of them looked over at Tobacco's body, parts of them burned to a crisp. Sticking out from Tobacco's sweatshirt pocket was a charred circuit board.

"Then… I _will_ die." And the heavy burden of the world came crashing down on Marcus' shoulders.

**There! *Peeks out of bomb shelter* No one yet? Where is RissA15 and the army? *Sees army in the distance* Oh, dear... *huddles back down* Well, as you can see, now is not the time to be on my computer, so I'll update again when the angry mob dies down! Please, please, please review; all you authors out there know how much reviews are appreciated! Bye for now!  
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**Footnote No. 1: Can anyone guess why Bree felt a sense of déjà vu? ;-)  
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**(I apologize for any spelling/grammatical errors.)**


	17. Explosion

**Hey, y'all! So I misjudged - this is the second-to-last chapter. Wait, or _did_ I misjudge? Eh, too lazy to check the facts. Anyways, so sorry I haven't been updating; long time and all, blah blah blah . . . this is what happens when school starts again. Anyways, this chapter may be a little choppy because I really want to get it up so you don't have to wait anymore . . . so it's not _quality_ work, exactly. And you'll need to be a good "read-between-the-lines" reader to understand parts of it. It went through _major_ editing before what you see here now.**

**The story won't be fully resolved until the very last sentence (which will be in the next chapter/epilogue) so stay tuned! There's probably other stuff I want to say but I can't remember it fully right now, so please read the A/N at the bottom! Anyways, R&amp;R and enjoy!  
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Disclaimer: I do not own Lab Rats.

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He_ froze. "What was Tobacco doing before we fought?" _

"_You're not special," Tobacco had scoffed. "The robotic freak is the special one. You're ordinary street kids." He clenched his fists as he wriggled around the box where Marcus was… __**had **__been resting, Chase recalled._

"_He took it," Chase said, astonished. "But how would he have known about that?"_

"_He couldn't have," Chase answered his own question._

_All four of them looked over at Tobacco's body, parts of them burned to a crisp. Sticking out from Tobacco's sweatshirt pocket was a charred circuit board._

"_Then… I will die." And the heavy burden of the world came crashing down on Marcus' shoulders._

* * *

Chase's face was grave. "All I needed was to re-connect the functioning wire to your "Duplicate Backup" hard-drive and you could've lived till sixteen. But now…"

"… I die at three months before sixteen."

"Yes." Chase's voice was heavy with tire.

"So… all I've been through; I die because I fried my own life-functioning disc." Marcus laughed, long, bitterly.

"Were you not paying attention? That's what Chase was saying!" Adam said cheerfully, completely oblivious to the actual _content_ of what Chase had been saying. Bree slapped him on the shoulder. "_Adam!"_ she hissed.

"What?" Adam said, genuinely confused.

Marcus held up a hand. "Don't scold him." Bree stopped, mid-shout.

"I guess it was a good thing I lived this long—and a good thing that I've met you three. I think my life changed for the better."

"There he goes, spouting philosophy," Bree said, pretending to sound bored, but in reality, she smiled and gave a look at Marcus the same way a mother would look at her newborn baby—with care.

Marcus smiled back, not harsh this time; not smirking. "Cupcake, you've spouted philosophy that you won't discover until later."

Bree smiled sadly. "I guess this is goodbye," she said softly.

"It was worth knowing you three," Marcus sighed. _I'm getting soft._ To test Chase's reaction, he fake-lunged and Chase, immediately on reflex, formed a force field ball. "You're still sharp, Chase. Stay gold,*" and he then lay down on the crates he had been lying down on previously.

Chase didn't smile, but he felt something he'd never felt before. _Like a bond with my—my cousin. Only a relative would do something like that._ "Marcus… I think I'm proud to call you a cousin."

"Marcus?" Adam said tentatively.

"Yes, Adam?" Marcus closed his eyes.

"You want some of my hot dog?" He held out the Jumbo he'd bought.

"Nah, I'm good, Adam…but, um… thanks."

Adam wolfed the rest of it down. "Your loss."

"I feel like I'm forgetting something," Bree said cautiously. "Tobacco is practically dead; the gang is unconscious; we _do_ know what happened to the circuit board and now we know for a fact Marcus is going to die…"

"_Douglas,"_ the three said all together.

Marcus lifted one eyebrow with his eyes still slammed shut. "He's gone," he commented. "While you were fighting Tobacco &amp; Co. Douglas revived and escaped. I wouldn't worry about him… he only came because he wanted to kill me off so I wouldn't pose a threat to him and erase your memories as well as Mr. Davenport's—_your_ father's—and then he'd be free to be the Hegemon of the Earth.*"

"So… Douglas is out there, somewhere." Chase said.

Marcus nodded. "And they say you were the super-genius. Were you not listening?"

Adam slowly nodded. "You think like me! Up-top!" Marcus didn't raise his hand, so Adam slapped him on the shoulder. Marcus winced quietly.

"And he could be coming for us," Bree continued.

"Princess, if you spend the rest of your wonderful, full, human life worrying about death and Douglas and destruction… I will hunt you down in the spiritual world." He was teasing, but Bree knew somewhere in there that there _was_ truth to the statement.

"But you said you don't believe in life after death," Bree tried to catch a flaw in Marcus' philosophical reasoning.

"I don't," Marcus answered, which made Bree all the more confused. _I'm coming for you._

"What?" she said out loud.

Marcus' eyes flew open. "What is it?"

"Oh… nothing… I just thought I heard something. It sounded like 'I'm coming for you.' Nothing too serious…" _I didn't know Marcus had telepathy. Or does he? Or is it something else entirely?_

"Worry about it later," Chase said urgently, having just remembered something. Oops. "Forgetting something?"

* * *

Donald Davenport was positively frantic with worry, stamping around the house and upturning inventions and trying to track the bionic trio's chips… and the GPS kept on flickering on and off…

"What the heck are they doing?" Donald ran a hand through his hair—yes, his wonderful, not-a-wig hair—mussing it up. "Marcus is out there! They should have come home by now. Are they even alive…?" All his unfinished thoughts trailed off.

Suddenly, something beeped on his cyber desk. _Incoming message,_ intoned the computer voice. Donald opened it up, read it, and a stab of fear hit him. _They're in danger._ He leapt up and grabbed his jacket, similar to the trio's mission suits, and yelled at Leo, "Where's the Daven-cycle?"

Leo appeared instantly. "Can I ride it with you?"

"No!" Donald snapped. "Adam, Bree, and Chase are in danger. I need to get there, ASAP! Now!"

Leo jumped at Donald's frightening tone of voice and said hurriedly, "It's, uh, in the garage where the self-driving car is—er, used to be."

As Donald sped out the door faster than he'd ever gone (not as fast as Bree, of course) Leo took a look at the cyber-desk. _I wonder what's so urgent._

Leo read the message, and being so weak and flimsy, passed out.

* * *

_4:49 P.M., August 14, 2013*; Warehouse_

_Douglas Davenport_

_So you think that just because Marcus is out there means the teens can handle it. Maybe you remember that __**I'm**__ out here, too… and once Marcus does what I tell him to do, you'll be at your end._

_Adam, Bree and Chase are in a warehouse. They're almost dead—I wouldn't have them walking in the city alone anytime soon… because when Marcus is out there, he knows what to do._

_Someone is dying in the warehouse, and I'll leave you to figure it out. The dying person is someone you'll never see again, but you'll feel a mix of emotions when the person dies… so I would hurry and get there, or else I'll speed up the dying process._

_If you don't reach the warehouse in time, I've planted several detonating bombs. I would be careful if I were you. Tread on eggshells, and __**do not trust anybody.**_

_Also, uh, could I borrow some hair gel? I'm out._

Little did Donald know how much truth was twisted and how many half-truths lay in the message.

* * *

_Is it Adam who's dying? Douglas didn't mention gender on which one is dying… but Adam is strong. He's the strongest… well, physically. Chase and Bree are strong mentally. They're stubborn. They can hold on. Bree especially—my feisty, foolhardy girl. She would hold onto life for the, well, the world… Then that leaves Chase—but Chase has the most abilities! He could unlock one yet. So what happens now? One of them is dying._

_Maybe he's lying._

_But why would he lie?_

_To lure me there._

_Maybe it's a trap._

_But why would he want to trap me if he wants me to take them back… or does he? Does he mean to kill me?_

_I have to go anyways._

"Hi, Big D!" Donald jumped in the air. "Leo! What… didn't you…?"

"I fainted after reading the message," Leo said obliviously. "But after I did, I rode unicorns and won the popping p's prize!" Leo grew huge dragon wings and began flying overhead.

Donald rubbed his eyes, and Leo disappeared. _I'm so sick with worry that I'm __**hallucinating**__ things. This is bad, bad, bad. Father Time will not spare me at all! Would it __**kill**__ him to give me a break!_

"I've got to get there," Donald said aloud, and that reassured him. He gunned the pedal and hunched forward, determined to save his kids.

* * *

"So it's just me and you…" Douglas said menacingly to the trio. He stepped out of the shadows.

"Typical villain line," Chase said, bored.

"Eh," Adam shrugged it off.

"You _may_ want to work on your accuracy," Bree corrected, not helpfully. "Marcus is here, too."

"Owned by my own kids," Douglas sniveled.

"Please don't say 'owned' ever again," Bree winced. "It's not… just… _don't._"

"So down to business," Douglas said, shedding the crocodile tears. "Donald knows you're here. He's coming. The thing is, he's stepping right into me trap."

"Cliché," Chase yawned.

Adam stretched. "Mind if I get another Jumbo hot dog while you ramble on and on with your monologues?"

"You sound like a pirate saying 'Me trap.' Quite obviously, you never learned correct grammar in school," Bree said cheerfully.

Douglas' face contorted. "So you all think that you're so much better than me. You won't know anything at all once I erase your memories. You will be dead to the world. You'll be dead to yourselves. You won't tell right from wrong."

He leaned in for the final blow.

"_You'll never know, ever again, that you used your bionics for good."_

Chase sniffled. "It's cold and wet in here. Do you have tissues?"

"So really, can I just run over to the street corner and buy some more food? The stand guy said they close at five. Plus I already sold him out of business… so… yeah." Adam rocked back and forth on his heels, creating little rippling waves on the floor from his blast-wave glitching as his impatience set it off.

"Yeah, yeah, sure, whatever." Douglas waved his hand, offended none of them ever took him seriously.

"Really?" Adam's face lit up.

"No," said another voice. "They won't be going anywhere. And neither will you, Douglas."

Marcus pushed himself up. "Maybe I can't use physical bionics, but there are some things that you never knew about me."

Chase's face twisted. _What is he doing?_

Adam continued rocking back and forth, moaning with hunger.

Bree took out her phone. "Hey, Douglas and Marcus, when you're done, let me know when I can get to the mall because this is eating up my free time."

Douglas was ready to erupt when he flew up into the air, crashing into the wall.

Marcus stood tauntingly over him. "Shall I begin with the things you never knew?"

Douglas looked up in fear.

"Number one: I have a very good habit of feigning weak before I launch an attack." Douglas flew into a broken support beam.

"Number two: I don't show mercy on opposing sides." Crates spun in the air at Douglas much like oversized tennis balls hit at top strength.

"Number three: I never miss." The crates pummeled Douglas until he was barely alive.

"Number four: I've had it with you." Shoes slipping silently on the ground, robotic arm sparking once more, Marcus advanced on Douglas.

"Number five: I'm done, even if it means killing you to have peace before I burn out."

Marcus' eyes flowed green for quite possibly the last time before firing, and Douglas was almost dissipated right before the Davenport's eyes.

But not before Donald arrived.

He arrived skidding into the wall and crashing onto the ground. The full force of the impact hit Donald like a brick wall and he flew off the cycle and the motorcycle intercepted Marcus' laser blast.

Douglas had been shielding himself, but now he looked up. "Donald," he croaked.

"I didn't save you intentionally," Donald huffed. "It was all part of the show. Now which one of you is… hurt?" His query ended in a questioning tone as he took a glance at each of his kids, each of whom were just fine and showing no suffering signs at all, except for a few bruise marks after taking out the gang.

Douglas chuckled slowly. "If only you knew how to intercept half-truths." He gestured towards Marcus, who was still standing, now a little weaker than before.

Donald gaped for a second, and finally exclaimed, "We're going home."

Marcus collapsed.

* * *

"You can't go home," Douglas said—or, more rather, _snarled._ "We're not finished here. Marcus is out of the way. Finished. I still have Adam, Bree, and Chase to… finish with."

"Oh, no, you don't," Donald said. "You're dead."

"You wouldn't kill me," Douglas laughed, almost lightheartedly.

"No," Donald admitted. "I wouldn't kill you. But I would end you and make your suffering as painful as possible if you touch any of these three."

Bree stepped forward. "Mr. Davenport… I think… Marcus deserves to be included, too."

"No, he doesn't," Donald snapped. "I don't care what you say. Whether he's changed or not, I'm not forgiving him. _At all._ Period."

Bree cast her eyes downward.

At the same time, Marcus uttered something almost so quiet she couldn't even hear it. Chase told her later, as he'd detected it with his super hearing.

"_Life was worth it if it ends this way."_

He was gone.

* * *

"I think she's awake."

"You really think so?"

"Her eyes are fluttering."

"She's done that several times before but she hasn't actually been awake yet."

Bree managed to mutter, "I don't remember anything."

Donald, who had argued Bree was awake, stroked his hand over her forehead. "I have a lot to fill you in on."

Leo, who had been the pessimist, said, "You may take it a little hard." After he'd stayed at home, there really wasn't much that he had done. All he did was help Bree recover… wait, from what?

"What am I recovering from?"

"We'll need Adam and Chase down here. It's a long story."

* * *

_Mission Creek News, August 15, 2013_

_By Nysgerrige N.*_

In all thirty years downtown residents have lived in, nothing quite like what happened yesterday has ever happened to them. A broken-down and abandoned warehouse exploded August 13, 2013, leaving several people inside injured. A total of six people were in the warehouse, and several knocked-out bystanders close to the entrance were found.

Some of the residents recognized the knocked-out bystanders—a local gang that was known for terrorizing the area. "It serves them right to be knocked out like that," Harold Weston, 63, commented. "Our son who lives in an apartment on the same street has been robbed several times by them."

There was one body burnt to a crisp, whose identity has yet to be uncovered. "We've never seen anything like it," Doctor Medina Kelley said to the press. "It seems like a severe burn mark, but from something almost _supernatural. _All hands are on deck trying to solve this interesting mystery as to what happened to the poor victim."

The six directly in the building, save one, are still conscious and are still alive. One of them, a girl whose name is not revealed for her protection, is in serious critical condition and is in a coma currently. It is determined that she will stay alive but will have a burn scar on her right arm. The girl's family, also in the explosion, are suffering second-degree burns, but not in as serious condition as the girl.

The sixth person, who has not appeared since the explosion, has not been named. Social media has been alerted to search for him. He appears to have slipped under the radar.

The press is still not sure what really caused the explosion. The warehouse is in a noxious part of town where industrial parts are made, causing toxic gases to rise in the air. The mayor of Mission Creek is taking better steps to make the air safer. While some people argue the gases ignited a fire, others say it is a forewarning that says something symbolic. What the symbolism is the believers have not elaborated on.

Another curious mystery is whether or not the mysterious explosion or something else knocked out the gang identified. None of the witnesses had any explosive devices on them and neither did the passed-out gang.

All witnesses to the scene (the survivors) are not responding to the flowing questions from reporters. "Our privacy is important to us," divulged one of the witnesses, whose name has simply been revealed as D. "We will give out the information when we feel ready to give it out. For now, please let us heal and get over the trauma before we begin spilling the beans." He left the scene due to the fact his hair was being pelted with paper confetti and began fussing about it.

"I feel unsafe," 11-year-old Karen Scott commented uneasily. "What if it happens to someone's house nearby in the area? I think it's selfish for the witnesses to keep the information to themselves."

"We as a public community _deserve_ to know what happened," Scott's mother Sasha Scott added later at the scene.

The real news of what _really_ happened in the abandoned warehouse is still being investigated; nobody knows for sure what happened, and nobody will until the witnesses are ready to give out the scoop. For now, stay tuned with Mission Creek News!

* * *

Five people.

Four supernatural beings.

Three truths.

Two half-truths.

One death.

Zero chances of resurrection.

One renewal.

Two alliances.

Three siblings.

Four links.

Five people.

"_Life was worth it if it ends this way."_

Bree would never forget it.

* * *

**So there you go! I remembered what I was going to say: I _was_ going to a) split this into two parts and make you wait even longer, b) put it all together in one chapter after ruling at a, and then c) deciding to split where it splits naturally - right here. Little worried on how this chapter really isn't top-notch quality because of the ending . . . **

**Please stick through this entire A/N: So I wonder if a) any of you figured out why _"I'm coming for you" _flashed through Bree's mind right after she had her pretty-much-the-last-conversation with Marcus, and b) if you any of you figured out the reason of the explosion in the warehouse. Submit your guesses to the review box and I'll tell you . . . er, _show_ you in the epilogue! (Hint: There are two reasons. Re-read the chapter more carefully if you don't know already.) And, c) did any of you decipher the last section of the chapter after the page break? Submit that as well, please, and review, review, review!**

**Ooh, yeah, I'm neglecting the fact that I just killed Marcus. Some of you are going to be a little pissed at that . . .  
**

**Wait. I just killed Marcus.**

**RissA15 is going to kill me. I've gotta run! Review until I can come back!**

* * *

**Footnote No. 1: "Stay gold" is a quote by Johnny Cade in _The Outsiders._ If any of you have read the story, you know what I'm talking about.  
**

**Footnote No. 2: **Hegemon is a reference from _Ender's Game._ Without ruining the story for you, it basically means "Grand Ruler."**  
**

**Footnote No. 3: The date Bionic Showdown aired was August 5, 2013, I believe. Wasn't it? Correct me if I'm wrong. So to make this accurate I'm going to put the date a few days after it, but still before Memory Wipe. Got it?  
**

**Footnote No. 4: Nysgerrige N. is a play-on-words for the Dutch translation for _curious one,_ which directly translates to "_nysgerrige en,"_ in which I changed the _en_ to a capital N. Good? (I originally did Tasha as the writer, but she _does_ stories, not write them, and I want to stay accurate ;-D)  
**

* * *

**(I apologize for any spelling/grammatical errors/forgotten footnotes.)**


	18. Epilogue: Coldness Is Made

**Hey, y'all! So quick note: If _ANY_ of you were worried I was turning this into a Maree story, please remember I've already co-written one with XxXIamaropleplayingfangirlXxX; this is purely cousin-bonding, okay? Anyways... so this is the last chapter (but not the end of the story!) I can't believe it's almost over after all you, the readers, and I, have been through. But I'll save the sentimental sap for the next few A/Ns (which I recommend you _DO NOT_ SKIP) as well as the end of this chapter's A/N. Anyways, sorry about not updating... but I just felt really lazy and wanted to relax, but dat's no excuse, is it now? So here ya go! Last chapter! Enjoy!  
**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Lab Rats.

* * *

_Five people._

_Four supernatural beings._

_Three truths._

_Two half-truths._

_One death._

_Zero chances of resurrection._

_One revival._

_Two alliances._

_Three siblings._

_Four links._

_Five people._

**_"_****_Life was worth it if it ends this way."_**

_Bree would never forget it._

* * *

Donald was staring out the window at nothing in particular. He was really only thinking about everything that had happened since the bionic showdown. Douglas escaping. Marcus being crushed by rocks, barely surviving. Adam discovering a new ability (his blast-wave.) Him finally uncovering the truth of who really had created* the bionic trio. Marcus bumping into Chase, kidnapping him, Adam, and Bree. Douglas still out there, finally re-appearing. The downtown gang beating up his kids. (_" 'Teens,' Bree would insist.") _Douglas disappearing once again after Marcus burned out and exploded, his body disintegrating. His exploding body, his own _cremation_, setting off the rest of the explosives that Douglas had wired into the warehouse's fragile structure. _Everything._

The thing was, Donald wasn't sure what he was feeling. Sadness, maybe? Not loss…

He … had been really scared for his kids. _(Teens.)_ They were all okay. And yet he felt a piece of him missing, such a big piece. Not a hole in his heart, but something carved out in his internal structure. Like the appendix. It wasn't vital to the human body; it could _kill_ somebody, it was simple and yet so terrifying at the same time. Donald didn't really _miss_ Marcus, per se; although he wouldn't take back his answer to Bree when she asked if Marcus could come with them (he had dropped dead at the moment anyways so it would've been pointless) he just had actually felt sorry for Marcus. The poor android had wanted to live no matter the hard, soulless mask he'd plastered on—he'd wanted to _live._ A simple wish that ninety nine percent of humans took for granted, it was. Living was the food that nurtured, well, _life._ Without life, there wasn't anything to exist. Without life, existing wasn't such a thing as a prospect in a dead, dead world.

So to ask again, did he really miss Marcus? The final answer chimed—no, he didn't miss him. He felt sorry the robot's bucket list had _never_ been completed, but Donald's life was so much easier knowing Marcus, unstable as he was (he later learned from Bree that Marcus _himself_ had even said he was unstable!), wasn't out there to haunt Donald every time he would send Adam, Bree, and Chase on a mission out of state.

Guilt nagged at Donald for not feeling sorry for the dead android, but, in the whole, long run, there were so many other things to worry about.

Like Douglas.

Douglas was still out there, human, alive, and _evil._ Donald knew that Douglas would never change. He had started out as a good (well, a _decent)_ kid and later in life, chose to go down the wrong path—the evil path. Working for sovereign-obsessed counts, barons, and warlocks, creating inventions that _harmed_ people… Donald wanted _no_ connection with Douglas, _his brother,_ at all. No. Just no.

So what was he going to do about Douglas?

Right now he could only hope for the best and stare out the living room, simply thinking.

* * *

Tasha, the mother bear.

Tasha, the protector.

Tasha, the worrier.

Tasha, the prowess in the kitchen.*

Tasha, a terrible news reporter.

She hadn't played a large role at all in the whole fiasco, but what she had done was stay home, worrying. (But she was glad Leo was at home, too, not risking his life frisking away with Adam, Bree, and Chase at some dangerous mission that he shouldn't have accompanied with them anyways!)

She didn't miss Marcus at all. After learning what he had done to her step-teens (_See, Bree?) _and how he had tried to _kill_ Leo, _her own precious son!_ Why, the nerve of the android to even think about doing something as appalling as that! Well… it definitely struck a sore spot, and Tasha had huffed, making a happy indignant sound (looking back on the sound she had made, it was definitely a strange, contradictory sound!)

All Tasha ever wanted was a family. A happy, healthy family. One that she was actually in charge of. She read books all about the mother who was the boss of the household. Quite obviously, that wasn't true in the Davenport household. But whoever said the Davenport mansion was _normal?_ Ruling "normal" off her family list was definitely the first thing she had to do once she moved in. Heck, she couldn't even get them all to sit down for dinner without one of them jumping up for a mission alert, training, a phone call, an Incredible Edibles emergency, or forgotten homework, so what the heck was good, anyway, to try?

All Tasha ever wanted was to be a happy, healthy family.

* * *

Marcus had refused Adam's hot dog.

_He refused my offer for a hot dog._

In a way, it touched Adam. Chase would have tried to steal it (or would he?), Bree would have complained about Adam always needing to eat food, and Donald would simply sigh.

But Marcus refused.

It allowed Adam more parts of the hot dog _for him._ And that was a good thing.

But delving into how he thought about Marcus was a lot trickier.

In a way, life went on without really _affecting_ him in any way once Marcus was gone. But the loss struck Adam, somewhat _hard._

Marcus had almost been killed while resting when Tobacco snuck up on him. He had almost died then and there had it not been for _him,_ Adam.

**_I _**_was the one who scared Tobacco off with my heat vision. __**I**__ was the one who gave Marcus a few more hours to live; to enjoy the feeling of breathing and seeing and hearing and simply __**living,**__ just living. Living is a wonderful feeling._

Adam had saved Marcus because Marcus and he were cousins. It was as simple, in Adam's mind (and really everyone else's if they thought about it), as that.

Cousin. Powerful word. Siblings were bonded together forever. But cousins were bonded through right and wrong, powerful-ness and powerless-ness, weak and strong. _Cousins._

* * *

In a way, Bree and Marcus had bonded together faster than Marcus and Adam or Marcus and Chase or even Marcus and Leo. (Heavens no to the last one—the two would remain sworn enemies forever.)

It wasn't love, Bree decided. It was far from a loving relationship. They shared a relationship where they thought the same things, had the same ideas, shared the same views. Only Bree had been able to see and coax out what Marcus had been feeling; his philosophy that had flowed out of him the day he died.

And when Marcus had said his final words, it almost seemed as if he'd said them to _her._ Maybe, just _maybe;_ but it was wishful thinking, Chase the skeptic would say if Bree asked him. But Bree's mind believed otherwise. _If it makes me happy, I'll think it._ She'd never forget it.

She loved him as a cousin. All the love there would ever be. Nothing more, nothing less.

Even now, when she was injured and suffered burns, she missed the way he talked. Always the pessimist, seeing the glass half empty.

Really, her family saw that figure of speech in so many different ways: Donald saw the glass as a way to make money by selling it, Tasha saw the glass would help a thirsty child in an area with contaminated water, Adam always saw the glass half full, Chase saw the glass—well, he'd _analyze_ it and launch into a speech about how water molecules' structure are really quite interesting because this and that, Leo saw the glass as a key element in a prank, and Marcus saw it half empty.

(Douglas she didn't care about, but she was guessing he saw it in every way possible to turn it evil.)

And how did Bree see the glass? How did she see this age-old figure of speech that defined life's unfair and fair and fairly unfair ways?

Bree came to the point that she would pour her own glass, thank you very much.

* * *

Chase had nothing to say on the matter.

The original plan he'd had to escape when Marcus was still "evil" was dead, flat, goose eggs, (which he had never tried before and didn't have the appetite to!) so really, he shared the same view as Donald.

Yes, he had protected Marcus from being shot, attacked, kicked, punch, and the like, but it didn't necessarily mean that he _cared_ for Marcus none too much…

"But you really tried to save him," Bree the optimist would say later. "You genuinely tried to save him. If you hadn't cared for someone, namely an evil over-dramatic* android, then why bother?"

_She has a point._

But to quote a wise person's words: "You can care for someone and not like their actions."

Perfect.

It was how it described Marcus and Chase's relationships. Chase would save Marcus if he could, but he wouldn't go overboard on the concept of "being nice."

Marcus had hacked at Chase's already loose grip on the catwalk chain-rail, ready to fall to his death, and if Adam hadn't had a rare moment of genius and figured out which buttons to push (Ooh, buttons!), Chase wouldn't have been there to save Marcus in the first place. Or, _try_ to save.

So really, Chase owed it all to Adam the genius.

(There's something he'd never ever say, never ever again.)

But there was a paradox—the Grandfather Paradox, to be specific. ("Nobody cares, Chase!" Bree would say.)

It went a little like this: If you created a time machine to go back in time (No duh!) and meet your grandfather and then kill him, he would never have married your grandmother and your grandparents would never have produced/adopted _your_ parent (mother or father), therefore _your_ parents would never have met, so _you_ wouldn't have been born or adopted or whatever form you were brought into the world, therefore you would never have created the time machine in the first place to go back in time and kill your grandfather.

Besides the entirely un-logistical problems of this paradox, this was an interesting puzzle to chew on. ("Let's add it to my Incredible Edibles!) Because nobody in their right mind would want to kill their grandfather and it would create a new timeline in the universe, going to a parallel universe, and then there would be _two_ universes, setting the very concept of time out of whack.

And back to the original point, if Chase had died in the first place, Marcus would have continued sulking as Chase wouldn't have have confronted him after bumping into him, so he would burn out without ever realizing the world was really a great place to be in…

Chase needed to talk a walk and think things through a little more—wasn't it a simple walk through downtown Mission Creek that started the whole fiasco in the first place?

* * *

Douglas held something in his hand.

To be precise, he was holding a rather large, bulky object and tucked it under his arm.

What he was holding/tucked under his arm was something that would enable him to finally become Hegemon of the Earth, the sovereign of the world, the lord of the universe, the king of everyone and everything.

The object was sparking, metallic, twisted-wire-covered, and rusty.

And yet it was what symbolized Douglas' path down the road to supreme ruler.

Marcus' robotic arm, which had flown off the rest of his body when his torso and legs exploded.

If he could perform robotic autopsy on the arm, he would have an entirely disposable and yet completely powerful army; he could load them with so many more abilities than the original, _faulty_ prototype. They didn't have chips that would overload; no, they were capable of withstanding over twenty different bionic abilities.

And they all belonged to Douglas.

Slight guilt struck Douglas, remembering how much fun he'd had with Donald when they were only little boys, both innocent, pure, and good (and not evil.)

But life's lesson remained, from Douglas, to Marcus, and back to Douglas.

_Coldness wasn't born. Coldness was __**made.**_

* * *

**Ooh . . . if any of you were fans of my story the second I first posted it (so many months ago! April 8, I believe), you will recognize the reference I put in the last sentence to the prologue. (;-D) Also, yes, so . . . I suppose it's time to face reality: Marcus is dead, some of the Davenports are moving on, others are still clinging. *cough* Bree *cough.* I hope you like how it edited, and just like the last chapter, it went through some _major_ revising because the first revision was *makes face* definitely not my best work. But I am proud of how I tied the end together, and I hope you mourn with me in my bomb shelter while RissA15 and her army pound on the bullet-proof door! Hey, I have writing skills. _I should use that to my advantage!_**

**Now I bet some of you are wondering whether there'll be a sequel or not. As a matter of fact, there will be an _extremely_ important A/N that will be posted shortly (maybe not-so-shortly...) containing all of the information about this story (and it's possible sequel) that I would like you to vote on, so _please remain loyal to the story_ until I say it's really over, because the next "chapter" is crucial to what I might do with the possible sequel, ya!? (Also because I don't wanna bore you to death with all of these bolded words and information, and you're probably blinking wondering _what the hell you just read!_ (and I don't blame you, frankly) so I'm posting the better stuff (A/N stuff, not story stuff) in the next chapter.  
**

**See what I mean? This A/N reminds me of the A/Ns I used to post that were _really long._ Ah, MoonlitShadowsoftheHumanSoul and daphrose, you remember those days, don't you?**

**So stay tuned!**

* * *

**Footnote No. 1: Yes, I believe they were created (but I do believe they _are_ related through fancy genetic talk ;-D), and please don't argue with me on this controversy in a review because I. Am. _Not._ In. The. Mood. (I have the flu.) So don't. Even. _Think._ About. Flaming. Right. Now. *smacks fist in palm***

**Footnote No. 2: A little quote from daphrose's story "You Got It From Me." (Except it was describing Bree, _not_ Tasha.) If you haven't read it already and are in the fluffy, bonding story-reading-mode, this is the story to read! Please read it after you're done reviewing if you haven't already; it is wonderful and you will _not_ regret it.**

**Footnote No. 3: Again, a quote from daphrose in her "I'm A . . . " series, describing our favorite android. (Not! - Except in this story, because I turned you all into softies. XD)**

* * *

**(I apologize for any spelling/grammatical errors.)**


	19. Vote

**Hey, hey, hey y'all! So here I am again; thank you for all those people out there reading this text for sticking with me here even though the actual story is done because yes, I admit, I can be boring sometimes. (Don't you dare rub it in!) But this is ****_REALLY, REALLY, REALLY _****important that you all see this because it may decide the fate of the supposed series. Yes, that's right. Like last time, I said that there might be a sequel, yes? Well, I have posted a poll on my profile relating to that—do y'all want a sequel or no? Now, that's a completely ridiculous question, some of you are thinking. Of course I want a sequel, knowing Douglas has Marcus' arm and will create a bunch of android replicas all named Robert! (Um… yeah, so, if you want to get the reference, read ****_The Quest_**** by Mia-Teresa-Davenport. Rated T, definitely, but it is a wonderful story. Now, I'm not just saying that because we're (I hope!) close friends. Why would you think that? *Whistles innocently) **

**But I like to leave things like that (cliffhangers on what will happen) on my stories, because I bet some of you are already spinning ideas in your head on what may happen to the Davenports, including Douglas, because Douglas is a Davenport. (All of you die-hard Lab Rats fans knew that anyways. And if you're some weird person who randomly went into a random archive and randomly searched an author who writes for the archive and randomly chose one of their fics and randomly clicked on a random chapter… get out of here. Don't bother to read or review. It will make ****_absolutely no sense whatsoever at all. _****Follow?**

**So the fate is in your hands! (Commercial to Wizard101 much?) There is a poll on my profile with the obvious question on whether there should be a sequel or not to ****_Marcus: Broken Android_****. Guests may vote in reviews, and I will take a total tally/count and will post a second A/N (also very very very very very—I can****_not_**** stress how very very very very very very ****_VERY_** **important) on the results of the vote as well as—yes, you guessed it (or maybe you didn't because you're not really processing what you're reading)—the goodbyes, the massive shout-outs (yes, another reason to stick around—do so and you'll find your name with a compliment attached to it!), and the general bits of news relating to the story and my thoughts about the story in three weeks. (Whoa, there's a run-on sentence. daphrose, do you mind?!)  
**

**On my profile after the vote is posted three weeks from now will be a cute little quiz at the top (near the top, actually, after ****More About Me**** and before ****Halloween Problems.****) It's a little trivia quiz to ****_Marcus: Broken Android_****, as well as ****Did You Know?**** on ****_Marcus: Broken Android_**** as well. Please be sure to participate in it, and if you are a member (if you wish) you may PM me your results! **

**So once again, if you're still not processing what you're reading: ****_PLEASE VOTE ON THE POLL ON MY PROFILE AND GUESTS MAY SUBMIT THEIR VOTES IN THE REVIEW BOX DOWN THERE. _I'll save the sentimental sap (Aw, you know I love y'all) for the next/last A/N!** **Thank you for your time and I will see you all again in three weeks!**

* * *

**And if you're wondering, Heart of Stone is going to be my full focus during these three weeks; it should be updated and maybe even completed by Halloween or so. We'll see. And for my Clandestine Covers fans, after Heart of Stone is finished, it will resume hopefully regular updates/I'll take it off hiatus. Sound good?**

* * *

**One more thing . . . I just realized that it may be "ya'll," not "y'all." Oops. Well, it's my style, and I'll keep it that way . . . ;-D) Anyways, don't forget to vote please, and guests may vote in reviews!**


	20. Confirmed Vote!

**Hey, y'all!**

**So it has been three weeks since I put the poll up; results are completed and in and the poll ****_is now closed!_**** Thank you all for supporting in this!  
The results - the moment you've all been waiting for! (Curse me and my blind polls - I know. ****_Smiles._****) Give me a drum-roll!  
**

**And . . .  
**

**The answer is . . .  
**

**_THERE *WILL* BE A SEQUEL TO MARCUS: BROKEN ANDROID!_**

**_Yes, AllAmericanSlurp, I know there will be a sequel. But I need to know what the poll result was!_**

**Oh, okay, fine, thirteen were ****_for_**** a sequel, and three were ****_against it._**

**Anyways, there will eventually be a sequel published. It will not relate to Marcus because Marcus is dead . . . Or is he? Well, we'll see, shall we! It will not be published ****_anytime soon_****, so don't expect it until a year and a half from now.**

**Um, sorry about that.**

**Seriously, though, I'm sorry, but with all the other ideas on my profile, those come first - the companion, not the sequel, (because the whole point of M:BA was, well, ****_Marcus,_**** and he's dead [for now!] so it's just a companion) - so we'll just have to wait, won't we?**

**But you can show your anticipation for reviewing on my other stories 'cause those spur me to update faster - the faster I update, the faster they finish - the faster they finish, the quicker I can post other stories, right? Nod with me here!**

**So that's the news!**

* * *

**And now, the moment most of you have all been waiting for as well, because everybody loves attention - SHOUT-OUT TIME!**

**The first couple of shout-outs are the biggest, the best, and the ones I am most grateful to, as always:  
**

_**MoonlitShadowsoftheHumanSoul**_**, for being my regular reviewer and _mea amica germana_, and for always being there for me!  
_daphrose_, for never failing to review and exchanging wonderful spoilers with as well as offering helpful support!****  
**

**Much thanks to my other relatively regular reviewers:  
**

_**Mia-Teresa-Davenport,**_**for always being supportive**_**  
BTRlover1122, **_**for showing how much she cares about**** Marcus in the reviews**_**  
EmotionalDreamer101, **_**for reviewing for the m****ost part**_**  
SamiBrit14 - my first reviewer!  
XxXIamaroleplayingfangirlXxX, **_**for always being there**_**  
Vampire Girl (a guest) **_**has recently stopped visiting this story, but whose reviews were much appreciated at the time!  
_RossLynch4Ever, _for always being there_  
DisneyXDGirl, _for offering support_  
_  
**

**Also thanks to reviewers who started near the end of the story/started near the beginning but didn't continue:  
**

_**RissA15, **_**whose fangirl army definitely spurred me to update**_**  
AwesomeWriter2013,**_** for always being there**_**  
DFTBAAITDLLTWBAP, **_**for showing her crazy side that made me laugh**** in the reviews**_**  
spooky jaz,**_** for bei****ng there  
**_**WeddingBands****, **_**for being there****  
_Adrenalized_, for being there  
_PhoenixRisingFromtheFire_, for being there  
_SunlitRaysoftheOutdoors_, for being there  
_Zena Moonbeam_, for being there  
_KrisKat_, for being there  
_Sunwolfee_, for being there  
_keyondraswag, _for being there**

**Thank you to the singular reviewers who submitted a couple of reviews:  
**

**_amichele_,**** for being complimen****tary  
_labratslover_, for being complimentary  
_ilovebreedavenport_, for being complimentary  
_dreamer4evera_****, for being complimentary and being my first friend on here****  
_Bionic Geek_, for being complimentary  
_Abnegation Ravenclaw_, for being complimentary  
_RazaraTheFirst_ \- ****A silent reader but reviews when she feels the need to!  
_TheMeepyFreak_, for being complimentary and very kind!  
_DecodeTheIgnorance_, for being so complimentary I felt overwhelmed  
_Emily Tanner_, for being complimentary  
_bionicButler_ (previously BionicWinchester), for being complimentary  
_rockybluewigs_, for being complimentary  
_Elleanor-Calder-Style_, for being complimentary  
**

**And of course, to the silent readers and to the guests:  
**

_**Ant  
Merissa  
All Guests titled "Guest" (There are many of you with that name!)  
Green Bean 8  
Ke$ha H8r  
Domino Emery - **_**You already got a shout-out, but just for the sake of privacy! - here you go :-)  
_Marcusismylove_  
_AllAmericanSlurpanddaphroseFan, _a silent reader**

**(_Please do not get mad if I put you under the wrong reviewing section. There are many reviews and if you each want an individual shout-out then don't harp! If I have forgotten you, review and tell me that I have and I will edit it when I receive the review.)_**

**Whether you reviewed once, twice, or for all twenty chapters (counting the A/Ns _and_ the last chapter - the vote), every single one of your helpful words, kind suggestions, and wonderful compliments were taken to heart and MUCH appreciated! Thank you all _so_ much for reading and reviewing, shaping my writing style, with this story! It's been a while since I first published it - back when I was a newbie - and it was thanks to y'all that I was able to become the author I am now!**

**Ergh, this is getting all mushy and cheesy - but know I mean every word of it.**

**So to repeat after wiping my eyes dry, there _will_ be a sequel to this story, but it _WILL_ _NOT_ be published anytime soon! I have to focus on my other stories and ideas.**

**Here's my story planning update:**

**Clandestine Covers: My main focus after this is done - next update will be tomorrow, October 22, 2014!  
Heart of Stone: My most successful story based on review count; has one more chapter to be posted - hopefully October 31, 2014!  
Cheerleader: Sometime between the Clandestine Covers update and the Heart of Stone update  
Luck of the Irish: Early November, _after_ the Heart of Stone update  
Paranormal Beasts: Mid-November  
Consequences: My darkest, most intense story yet: to be released in late November!**

**So there you have it! Dates are subject to change.  
**

**So . . . now it's over. I just don't know what to say . . . **

**Except THANK YOU ALL, for your support and for sticking with me through the story!**

**I'll see y'all around for tomorrow's Clandestine Covers update!**

**Bye, everybody!**


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